This would have been a great event

On Tuesday the 11th of August I headed to Hamilton to set up for the Nursery Trade day held at Claudelands Event Centre.  I was eager to set up my stand, in partnership with one of my customers, Ecomix coir suppliers, that unfortunately could not make the trip, from Australia, due to the current travel/managed isolation restrictions. 

I happily went about my business and set up a stand at the fantastic facility. I was looking forward to the following day blissfully (like most) unaware what was about to happen later that night, when the Auckland Covid-19 re-emergence in the community was announced. Level 3 lockdown was to begin at 12pm the following day for the Auckland region which was the same day as the trade show.  Despite Hamilton only going to level two, some of the trade day exhibitors were from Auckland, as well as around the country.   The organisers had to change the finish time of the event to 12pm, rather than 3pm, to coincide with the start of the move into alert levels. 

I was informed by the organisers that of the 500 registered delegates expected to attend only one third did.  I am surprised that many turned up.  Even though the trade day was not successful, in terms of the attendance and expected outcomes, it certainly would have been very successful if the event was held only twenty- four hours earlier. 

I took as many photos as possible of the exhibitors attending, I hope by posting some of the photos below you can see who was exhibiting and the huge effort that had gone into the event by the exhibitors.   Hopefully next year the trade day will go ahead.  If it does, I for one will definitely be there. 

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Article Written and compiled by Stefan Vogrincic, Consultant, Grower2Grower

Article Edited by Marie Vogrincic, Editor, Grower2Growe