Bay Can Take a Bow

Hawke's bay Today (29 January 2007)
ROGER MORONEY

At the end of Saturday night's Mission Estate Winery Concert Eric Clapton and his band lined up to take a bow. The huge crowd could well have done the same.

"Full credit to the concertgoers," Mission chief executive Peter Holley said.

"People came to enjoy themselves and the concert. There was a good feel to it ... a good mood," Mr Holley said.

"No question they should take a bow." Mr Holley said the event had attracted many "very influential VIPs" from throughout New Zealand and Australia.

"Australian guests of ours were mightily impressed with Hawke's Bay," he said, adding that the event was attracting international attention.  
 
"And that is great for tourism. It is great for everyone." It was certainly good for the local economy, with restaurants, wineries and coffee houses all reporting big at the weekend. "It was full-on all day yesterday," a spokesman for Ujazi restaurant and coffee shop in Tennyson Street, Napier, said.
"Very busy ... we did a lot of breakfasts," was how a staffer at Thorps Coffee House in Hastings Street saw it.

Motels, shops, bars and restaurants all made hay while the concert tourism sun shone on what would have been a million-dollar-plus windfall for the region.

Despite a crowd that one police officer said nudged closer to 30,000 than 25,000, and which left behind an estimated 25 tonnes of bottles and cans, only two arrests were made and "a handful" of people ejected from the concert site. "It was very good," Senior Sergeant Mal Lochrie, of Napier police, said.

The arrests were for disorder and possession of cannabis. A dozen people were sent packing from the concert site for alcohol-fuelled disorderly behaviour.

"On the whole, it was well-behaved," Mr Lochrie said. With increased security and a determination by police to enforce licensing rules, as well as introducing liquor bans in nearby streets, the concert was free of the problems. of last year's event.

The feedback Mr Holley had from Clapton and his entourage was that the Mission was certainly a unique spot: "They enjoyed themselves and were very impressed with the venue."

Equally impressed was the four-man security consultancy crew from Australia-based Assett Protections Systems.

"Everything went really well. It is an excellent event, which can really grow," operations manager Kevin Carey said.

Even the weather played ball, with only a few light drops of rain falling late in the concert - although there was a downpour just after midnight. St John Ambulance crews treated 147 people for mainly minor injuries, many the result of stepping on broken glass.

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