{"id":106163,"date":"2025-10-29T01:04:10","date_gmt":"2025-10-29T01:04:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/106163\/"},"modified":"2025-10-29T01:04:10","modified_gmt":"2025-10-29T01:04:10","slug":"kerikeri-street-party-cancelled-as-brynderwyns-closures-funding-hit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/106163\/","title":{"rendered":"Kerikeri Street Party cancelled as Brynderwyns closures, funding hit"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cWe just had to make a call.\u201d <\/p>\n

Held every November on the evening after the Kerikeri Half Marathon<\/a>, the much-loved annual street party<\/a> started in 2007 to encourage out-of-town runners to stay an extra night in town. <\/p>\n

The event regularly attracted more than 4000 revellers who enjoyed live music, street performers and dozens of stalls offering food, craft beers and wine.<\/p>\n

Sanders stressed that the cancellation wasn\u2019t permanent, and the street party may return next year if funding was available. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been entirely clear, this isn\u2019t permanent. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a fantastic event; we just can\u2019t afford to do it this year. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just one of those years the stars didn\u2019t align for us.\u201d <\/p>\n

\"TheThe event attracted around 4000 revellers who partied on Kerikeri\u2019s main street after the half marathon.<\/p>\n

KKDBA said it was \u201cbeyond gutted\u201d to learn of the cancellation with less than six weeks\u2019 notice. <\/p>\n

KKDBA executive member Ann Court said it was \u201canother kick in the face\u201d for local businesses already impacted by a faltering economy and SH1 diversions. <\/p>\n

NZTA recently confirmed SH1 over the Brynderwyn Hills <\/a>will close for two, four-day \u201csuper weekends\u201d in November while resurfacing works are carried out. <\/p>\n

The vital transport link will be shut in both directions from November 13 to 16 and again from November 20 to 23, with detours along Paparoa-Oakleigh Rd, Cove Rd via Mangawhai and Waipu, and SH12\/SH14. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s hard to overstate quite how important these events are for our local economy,\u201d Court said. <\/p>\n

\u201cMany people travel specifically to Kerikeri and the wider Bay of Islands area to participate in both the half-marathon and the street party. <\/p>\n

\u201cLosing 50% of the reason for visiting will doubtless disappoint many and … will make it more difficult to bring them north again next year.\u201d <\/p>\n

Court said the lack of notice would \u201csharpen the disappointment\u201d among visitors and locals alike. <\/p>\n

\"SportSport Northland doesn\u2019t believe the Brynderwyns closures or Kerikeri Street Party cancellation will deter runners from this year\u2019s Kerikeri Half Marathon.<\/p>\n

\u201cGiven the importance of this event to the local economy, we would have thought that the organiser would have given others a chance to step forward and make it happen. <\/p>\n

\u201cBut now, with less than a month to find the funding and put all the arrangements in place, that would be next to impossible.\u201d <\/p>\n

Sport Northland, which runs the Kerikeri Half Marathon, said they\u2019d had \u201creally clear comms\u201d with NZTA about the road closures. <\/p>\n

Event lead Tara Wilson said last year the event attracted more than 1900 runners and walkers. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re definitely on track for around the same numbers as last year. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re communicating to our participants this week and putting up our signs in regards to the road closure, that they\u2019ll need to allow a bit of extra time for travel. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t think it\u2019ll affect us too much.\u201d <\/p>\n

Wilson said she didn\u2019t think the street party cancellation would deter anyone either. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s still heaps of cool stuff to do up here.\u201d <\/p>\n

Court said KKDBA is considering how it might help rescue the street party for future years. <\/p>\n

The signature event \u201cdemands consistency and certainty\u201d, she said. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe will certainly be thinking about how we might … get this much-loved event back onto the calendar for next year and beyond.\u201d <\/p>\n

Jenny Ling is a senior journalist at the Northern Advocate. She has a special interest in covering human interest stories, along with finance, roading, and social issues. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cWe just had to make a call.\u201d Held every November on the evening after the Kerikeri Half Marathon,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":106164,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[806,63501,12505,20703,8604,8606,738,76613,305,3594,16571,27135,47148,111,43,139,69,4762,10903,76612,5424],"class_list":{"0":"post-106163","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-zealand","8":"tag-as","9":"tag-brynderwyns","10":"tag-cancellation","11":"tag-cancelled","12":"tag-caused","13":"tag-closures","14":"tag-funding","15":"tag-gutting","16":"tag-have","17":"tag-hit","18":"tag-kerikeri","19":"tag-lack","20":"tag-looming","21":"tag-new-zealand","22":"tag-news","23":"tag-newzealand","24":"tag-nz","25":"tag-party","26":"tag-popular","27":"tag-sponsorship","28":"tag-street"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106163","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=106163"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106163\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/106164"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=106163"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=106163"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=106163"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}