Taumarunui Community Dinner at the Domain
Friday, 9th September, 2011
Media Release: Ruapehu District Council
STRONG TURN-OUT FOR ‘DINNER @ THE DOMAIN’ MEETING
Close to 50 people attended the first public meeting at the Memorial Hall last Thursday to start organising for the ‘Dinner @ the Domain’ event planned for Taumarunui early next year.
The ‘Dinner @ the Domain’ event is a free community dinner put on for the people of
Taumarunui by the people of Taumarunui. Sponsored by Trust Waikato (the Trust) the event is being organised locally by Enterprising Taumarunui Incorporated (ETI) with the aim of celebrating all the great things about Taumarunui and what the township and its people have to offer.
Trust Waikato’s chief executive Bev Gatenby said that Trust Waikato’s vision is for
resilient and vibrant communities. “The Trust is thrilled to support this whole of community event that brings everyone together,” she said. “We have enlisted the services of celebrity chef, Richard Till, who has been involved in a number of large scale community lunches.”
“Richard is ‘madly enthusiastic’ about the event and the power of food, and people coming together over a meal, to bring out the best in a community. He has already been to Taumarunui twice including attending last week’s public meeting and has made a promotional video to help promote the free community dinner and to get local organisations on-board.”
ETI Chairman, David Hammond, said that besides the idea of having a great, big, free, community dinner the final look and feel of the event is still open for discussion. “We want the project to develop as organically as possible and so have been very keen to avoid defining what the event is, and what it is not, for fear of ‘narrowing down’ what it ultimately could be,” he said. “At the public meeting we had a whole raft of amazing ideas put forward that covered ‘food ideas’ and ‘fun ideas’.”
“Out of the public meeting we had a number of people who volunteered to form part
of a committee that will see the project through to the end. The next meeting is scheduled for Thursday 8 September and is open to anyone who was unable to attend the first public meeting.”
Mr Hammond noted that anyone who wanted to join the organising committee was
still welcome to do so.
“Dinner @ the Domain is going to be an amazing community event for Taumarunui. Anyone who wants to get involved should come along to the next meeting on Thursday 8 September or contact Enterprising Taumarunui to register their interest.”
The venue and time of the September 8 meeting will be published in the Wednesday 31st August edition of the Ruapehu Press.
DAVID HAMMOND
CHIEF EXECUTIVE