South Canterbury’s anniversary day will be moved to November this year.
The change of date comes after the New Zealand Government announced the country will recognise the death of Queen Elizabeth II on September 26 — South Canterbury Anniversary Day.
The three South Canterbury district councils — Timaru, Waimate and Mackenzie — all agreed to move the day to November 11, Canterbury’s anniversary day.
At an extraordinary meeting on Tuesday, the Timaru District Council took on board results of a survey of South Canterbury people about the issue.
More than 8200 people filled in the online survey, with 86% supporting moving the anniversary day to coincide with Canterbury’s.
The majority did not have any additional comments but a few expressed concern about the affordability of another public holiday for businesses and how South Canterbury businesses usually benefited from the influx of visitors on Canterbury Anniversary Day.
Some suggested South Canterbury’s anniversary day be moved to either Friday, September 23 or Tuesday, September 27, and others said it would be unfair if the rest of the country received an extra holiday, while the South Canterbury region missed out.
Geraldine councillor Gavin Oliver said the concern for Geraldine businesses was the Geraldine Festival being held over Canterbury anniversary weekend, but said businesses acknowledged that it came in swings and roundabouts.
‘‘They recognise they have to pay a bit extra for staff but they are hoping for a bigger roll-up of a crowd for the day with people being on holiday.’’
Timaru councillor Steve Wills wanted to make it clear South Canterbury Anniversary Day was being moved for this year only.
‘‘I want to stress that. We don’t want to lose South Canterbury Day as that is Dominion Day. It is our identity, it is the day we identify with.’’
Timaru councillor Allan Booth said he was not against the motion but wanted to point out that each employee working would cost a business $400 for that day.
‘‘Just keep that in mind, and that is made up of wages, lost opportunity and profit. Multiply that by how many staff you’ve got, it’s what the outcome is in reality.’’
Mayor Nigel Bowen said he was confident from a hospitality point of view that people from Christchurch would still move around Canterbury.
‘‘I think those who would traditionally come to Timaru, as an example, we are still quite likely to get those. I don’t think it will be as bad as we think.’’
