Winton Area Promotions members Bryce Williams, Robyn Loudon and Bridget Stevens show the flags which brought holiday cheer to the main street of the town for about two decades. PHOTO: SUPPLIED
For about two decades, the main street of the Southland town has been brought to life with festive Christmas flags, supported by Winton Area Promotions.
Secretary Jane Miedema said the increased cost of the installation, which included stringent traffic management, and ongoing damage to the flags had made it unsustainable for the group to carry on with the tradition.
They, along with resident Blair Irwin, researched an alternative option and found a system which would allow the group to manage the flag installations independently.
"To get the flags on we actually had to have a traffic management system and we have to have somebody up there that climbs up the poles and puts the flags on.
With this new system it means that from the ground you can actually attach the flag and it's like on a pulley system and you pull it up on to the flagpole."
She said the new system would cost about $26,000 and would cover the new track system and three sets of 24 commemorative and celebration flags. While it was a significant amount of money, it would be an one-off approach, she said.
"One of those is a set of Christmas flags, one is a set of Anzac flags for the town, and one is a set of Matariki flags.
"I think the main ability of having this new system is that we can put up flags at different times of the year and maybe other groups may want to use it as well.
If we've got other things like the A&P show and other events, they may want to use them as well and they would have the ability to do that."
They started a fundraising campaign and hoped many in the community would support it.
"We did receive a lot of feedback from people missing the flags and asking why they weren't put up ... I think that probably people don't realise just the cost of doing it in previous years and many thought that it was the district council that put them up.
"They don't realise perhaps that it's a community group that actually had paid for it in the past and put them up for the community ... that was the reason why we were looking at a different system to look at longevity and the ability for us to maintain this each year."
Anyone wishing to support the initiative was encouraged to contact Winton Area Promotions or buy a box of Winton Chocolates, which was a fundraiser, she said.
