Ian loves a crowd  

Cambridge Brass Band, conducted by musical Director Rob Hocking, in full swing inside the historic St Andrew’s Anglican Church.   

Ian Dunn has presided over more St Andrew’s craft fairs than the veteran verger is prepared to admit.

But he is in no doubt that Labour Day Monday’s event – the first in two years because of Covid – was the busiest he had seen in many years.

From the minute the stalls opened at 9am till when they started packing up at 2pm, the crowds were cheek to jowl.

Ian Dunn takes in the music from the Cambridge Brass Band inside St Andrew’s Anglican Church. Photo: Mary Anne Gill

Dunn, who had heart surgery a few weeks ago, had planned everything meticulously confirming 137 stalls with another 30 on the waiting list.

“The ones working in the kitchen say it’s the best they’ve ever done,” he said.

“We will never know how much money the stall holders make but they seemed pretty happy too.”

The Cambridge Brass Band played in the church from 10am providing plenty of toe-tapping music.

“They were great. They made the church rock,” said Dunn, who admitted when it was all tidied up, he was “a happy and tired man.”

Record crowds attended the first post Covid St Andrews Craft and Collectable Fair on Monday. Photos: Mary Anne Gill

He is already planning the next craft fair on Anniversary Weekend in January and looking for ways to accommodate the extra stall holders.

More Recent News

Libraries – ‘more than books’

The man helping take Waipā District Libraries’ public services into the age of technology has been nuts about computers since he was about four. Now in his late 20s, Joe Poultney is a self-confessed techno-nerd…

Fears over waste plan

The proposal to build a waste to energy plant in Te Awamutu is the antithesis of all the district stands for, says Waipā mayor Susan O’Regan. O’Regan appeared before an independent Board of Inquiry in…

Five councils take the plunge

Ōtorohanga District Council led the way last week as the first of five councils to decide to hand its drinking and waste water over to a council-controlled water authority. Ōtorohanga councillors voted to join stage…

Brilliant bare necessities

The deft hands of a veterinary surgeon and scientist are the same hands that have crafted the brilliant costumes for the upcoming St Peter’s Catholic School production of The Jungle Book. The three performances in…