As a past president of the National Fieldays Society – and still a loyal volunteer – I continue to take a great interest in the organisation’s success.
Official opening ceremony on day one of Fieldays at Mystery Creek, Hamilton. Photo: Stephen Barker
Having been suggested by the late John Kneebone in 1966 and created as a reality only two years later, the organisation has gone from strength to strength over 55 renditions of the agriculturally themed mid-winter demonstration of commercial and social success. It was only halted in its stride once due to the onset of Covid.
Peter Carr
The 1400-or-so sites were almost at capacity two weeks ago. That well in excess of 100,000 people care to pay and turn up is a success in itself. But what was originally planned to be a twinning of town and country has now morphed in something much wider.
From the simple flag raising in the pre-dawn chill of the first day to the moment when the gates closed four days later the large area – much of it under canvas – was a sea of eager faces (old and young) all seeking something new and exciting. While the (dairy) farmers kept their purse strings fairly tight, even after a very good year, it behoves us all to recall that much of their industry takes place under an umbrella of debt – which has to be repaid. If their reticence to spend big on a shiny new tractor is understandable even more important is their need to reduce their reliance on the well profiting banks.
Important too is the swing, over recent years, towards a degree of education targeting both life on the farm and education of emerging adults in the shape of school-age children. Much is shown and explained in the area aligned to health, some of this initiative being driven a few years ago by the growing spectre of remote farm-based suicides.
Technology too has emerged as a most useful tool with the electronic chip-provided wristbands aimed at exciting attendees at the gate to hope to win the 110,000-to-1 chance of the keys to a brand-new utility vehicle. But there is a counter side for the exhibitors too who, if they participate, are able to identify and follow up those who have visited their sites during the four days. A win-win all round.
For the 150 volunteers – many of them with decades of Fieldays experience – their 6am breakfast cooked under the eye of the current president kick-starts their often 12 hour stint in the crisp mid-winter air. This year they were met by an over-abundance of rain. That said, the inclement weather did not deter the continual stream of the public through the gates. One of the more recent initiatives aimed at reducing carbon-related use of the roads has been the advent of a Fieldays Society supply of buses linking the Mystery Creek site with Te Awamutu, Cambridge and Hamilton.
Longevity and loyalty are by-words of the society. Interestingly, the four past presidents who raised the organisation’s flag on that dark morning had a combined hands-on involvement with Fieldays amounting to 146 years. And they will all be back – along with their equally hard-working compatriots – for more of the same in June next year.
Aerial view of Fieldays 2024. Photo: Stephen Barker.
