2011 NEWS

You could say that 2011 was a year of 2 halves.  The first half was not so good but the second part was definitely better!

We started off with the February earthquake of course, and its impact was far reaching in many ways. As you know, Dunkleys Shows Ltd is based in Christchurch. We were fortunate not to suffer any loss of life, and all our friends and families were safe. However, the small community that Christchurch is, meant that we all indirectly knew people who had been killed. So it was a very sad way to kick off Rugby World Cup year.

The loss of our city centre, our heritage buildings and all the life and activity that the CBD brought to Christchurch, is also very sadly missed. 

Business-wise, the earthquake caused us quite a bit of disruption, most significantly being the severe damage of the Main Stand at Addington Raceway. It immediately became totally off-limits and has subsequently been demolished. We were fortunately able to hire a large marquee, and set it up in the car park beside the remaining Stewards Stand. Here we accommodated all those who were previously sited in the Main Stand.

A second disruption to the Christchurch show occurred during the week leading up to it,  when the whole of NZ was hit by an arctic blast that lasted almost a week and dumped a huge amount of snow. The marquee, that should have taken 1 day to put up, took 3 days. It was a mammoth task and we would like to thank Continental Hire for their sterling efforts.

Continental Caterers putting up the marquee "The marquee goes right where...?"

All these delays put us many hours behind schedule so we’d also like to thank all the exhibitors for their patience while we were setting up the remaining sites. Roadies Craig, Colleen, Mark and Glen worked like Trojans, believe me!

A photo taken by a member of the public and emailed to us.

Last but not least we’d like to thank all of the exhibitors for actually making it there. Many were stuck in Wellington, waiting for the Cook Strait ferries to start running again, while others were trapped by snow in various parts of the South Island. One exhibitor was even stuck at a ski lodge somewhere in the Southern Alps! Anyhow, after all the dramas we had only 3 cancellations so that was brilliant.

We are pleased to report that we received many positive comments from both the public and exhibitors about how good the marquee was. They liked the atmosphere, and the displays looked fantastic as well. We had huge heaters blowing warm air and so it was rather cosy! 

We were also very pleased that we had such a huge turnout for the show. It was amazing!!! Excellent sales for the exhibitors too! We found that the public needed somewhere to go and have an enjoyable time, and to spend their money since so many shops and malls were out of action. Our show was the perfect antidote to Christchurch’s shopping woes. As retailing won’t return to normal for many years to come, we can expect an equally good show there again next year.

It is doubtful that a new venue will be built in time for next September so we’ll be back with another marquee. We will also be using the Silks Lounge (in the Stewards Stand), which wasn’t previously available. This means that for 2012 we’ll be able to have more exhibitors in the building.

We would like to thank exhibitor, Zora Brunette for the lovely card and gifts she organised (on behalf of the exhibitors) for all our staff,  electricians included. It was most unexpected but very nice. Many thanks everyone.

Compared with the Christchurch show, all the others were a doddle, almost ….. !!!

Porirua went off without a hitch - except for an incredibly violent downpour that flooded the car park on the Saturday morning!! Despite that, the water drained away remarkably quickly and the dull weather drove the public indoors to our event. Great!!

And the North Shore venue avoided the path of a twister cyclone by only a few hundred metres. Phew! (This happened several weeks prior to our show, so we were very relieved that we didn’t have to go out and find yet another new venue!)

Speaking of new venues, the ILT Velodrome in Invercargill was excellent. It was our second time there, after Stadium Southland collapsed under heavy snow last year, just one week prior to the show. We’re very glad all that’s behind us! We had record crowds on the Friday and Saturday, although Sunday was a little quieter with it being Fathers Day. That won’t be a problem next year as the Christchurch, Dunedin and Invercargill shows will be back in their usual September timeslot, finishing the weekend before the change over to daylight saving. (This year they were moved to August to avoid the Rugby World Cup).

New Plymouth was an excellent show as always. We are now well and truly established there as a must-do event over the Queen’s Birthday weekend. We LOVE New Plymouth!!!

This year Hamilton was a stand alone show but next year we are holding it back to back with Whangarei, which should be good.

For 2012 we are resting a few shows and bringing a few back. While the North Shore show was good sales for the exhibitors, it was simply impossible to get suitable dates for next year. We have therefore decided to rest it for 2012 and will be returning in 2013, when we have dates booked for the 18th - 20th October. The overwhelming response from exhibitors is that they prefer October, with it being so much closer to Christmas.

Likewise Napier is also being rested. Back on board are Greymouth, Blenheim, Tauranga, Whangarei and Gisborne. Some of these cities have not seen a Dunkleys show for several years, so it’ll be great going back.

Tauranga also has a wonderful new arena at Bay Park, that we are using for the first time. It is purpose built for shows, so its facilities are excellent. The best feature however, is the massive public car park, right out front, that holds several thousand vehicles. Our previous venue, the QE Youth Centre, always had a problem with parking, for both exhibitors and the public, so it’ll be great to have more than we need.

Last but not least for 2011 - we won the Rugby World Cup!!  YAHOOO!

At long last! Good on you Richie and the boys.

* Our website has a craft directory which features the work of many of our exhibitors and is a handy reference tool for visitors to our site. Previously the directory listing was $80 + gst per 12 months. To encourage more participation we have decided to charge just a one-off fee of $50 + gst, and you can be listed for as long as you like. All you need to do is supply us with a photo of your work, a description of your craft/business and your contact details. It’s that simple. You would be amazed at how often the public contact us when looking for a particular exhibitor on our website, expecting to see them in the directory. That’s why we’d like as many of you there as possible.

* As always we are keen to recruit new exhibitors. This is where you can help. If you attend or participate in other shows or craft events, and come across anyone you think would be suitable, just collect their business card and send it to us. (Make sure you write your name on the back of the card). We will follow them up with a phone call and an application pack etc. Remember that you are entitled 

to a $100 Introducer Rebate after the person you have introduced has participated in 2 shows.

* There is also another way that you can help spread the word, to your customers. Three weeks prior to each show, we will be emailing you a flyer with a discount coupon. Just forward it to all those in your database/mailing list. They will appreciate it as they can print out the coupon and bring it to the show, and get in at a discounted price.

Well that’s it for another year. We’re taking our usual summer break over Christmas and will close up on Friday 16th December, re-opening on Monday 23rd January. Over the break we will still be coming in to the office to clear our emails, messages, faxes and post office box, so please feel free to contact us during this time.

Merry Christmas and a happy new year from us all at Dunkleys Shows - Fiona and Kim Dunkley, Deb Balloch, Tania McLachlan, Craig Wilson, Colleen Roil and Mark McGregor.