New Passport For Napier
Friday 22 June 2012, 7:28PM
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Mayor Barbara Arnott has just revealed that all Napier households would be receiving a new Passport in their letterboxes over the next week. “The great thing about these Passports is that you don’t need to go overseas to use them,” Mayor Arnott says.
It’s all part of the build up to Napier’s For the Ride of Your Life festival on July 6, 7 and 8th and the 20 page Passports are the public centre piece to an event filled cycling and music weekend. Residents are being encouraged to get on their bikes and join in the fun by taking to the Rotary Pathway/Hawke’s Bay Trails, getting their Passports stamped along the way. Participants will be eligible to win prizes at various designated Pathway stops, and there are two main prizes of a Hudson bike and an $850 TSB Bank account.
Mayor Arnott is excited about the economic impact the festival is likely to create for the city. “We are delighted with the response we have received from outside the region with hundreds of bike enthusiasts already signed up to be involved across the six events we have planned.”
Events range from Criterium bike races around Marine Parade on the Friday evening while Saturday sees the start of a Bike Polo tournament at the Sound Shell, an Urban Mountain Bike race over Bluff Hill and a BMX Big Air Challenge at Sk8Zone. The prestigious NZ Cyclocross National Championships are being held at EIT on the Sunday. These are all supported by the City Showcase music spectacular with 30 bands playing at venues across Napier.
This is the first year of the For the Ride of Your Life Festival and the Napier City Council has undertaken a major on-line and social marketing campaign to entice visitors to come to the city at a time when bed numbers are traditionally low. A For the Ride of Your Life website has already received over 2000 visits in just three and a half months and a specialist Facebook site now has over 700 people following the event. “This festival is likely to grow year on year. The first is always hard to get off the ground but it seems from the response we have received so far that this could be the start of something huge,” claims Mayor Arnott.