Framework uncertainty for events at Mighty River Domain
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused further havoc for the Waipā summer events season.
Waipā District Council has made the difficult decision that Mighty River Domain will not host events in December because of the uncertainty around the COVID-19 traffic light framework and the lack of time to plan.
Events scheduled in December were Te Puku O Te Ika Regional Sprint Championships 2021 planned to take place December 11-12, and the Karapiro Rowing Christmas Regatta scheduled for December 16-19.
Mighty River Domain Site Manager and Waipā District Council Deputy Mayor Liz Stolwyk, said that the news would be disappointing for some event organisers, if not exactly unexpected.
‘‘Unfortunately, we are still waiting for more detail about large scale outdoor events under the Government’s new traffic light system, and without that clarity, we’ve had to make the difficult call to hold off running events in December.’’
New Zealand moves to the COVID Protection Framework on December 3 but there is still uncertainty for events, says Council.
The framework stipulates that all indoor and outdoor events will have no capacity limits for attendees with vaccination certificates at green or orange, while at red, the capacity limit is cut to 100.
Furthermore, if an event doesn’t insist on vaccination certificates being a condition of entry, they cannot operate at all at orange or red.
Bruce Nunns, Manager Property Services, Waipā District Council said there is ambiguity around restrictions for events, particularly those events that have open access and are non-ticketed.
“There needs to be time to understand the new operational requirements in order to plan how to operate events under the traffic light framework. While it’s disappointing, Council needs to act cautiously before committing to the extended costs of running these events”.
To find out all guidelines in place for running events at the different alert levels, head to https://covid19.govt.nz/activities/events-and-entertainment/.
For more information about what events are on in Waipā, visit whatsonwaipa.co.nz.
