Kim Young, of the sponsoring company Kim Young & Sons commercial growers, says the Growers Games create a real sense of camaraderie among those involved, such as the team event of strapping bins onto a flatbed the fastest without any twists in the lines.
“Each competitor is proud to wear their company shirts and compete for their business,” he told Hort News.
Young donated 1.5 tonnes of carrots to the festival. Some were used for ‘sort-it-out’ where teams of growers are timed to divide a bin of vegetables into separate crates of carrots, potatoes, swedes and parsnips.
Festival organiser Emma Benefield says the festival is a celebration and appreciation of the growers who make Ohakune the carrot capital of the world, but the township is also famous for its potatoes, brussel sprouts, swedes and parsnips.
There is no fee to enter the festival, and the stalls and stage take over the main street in the Junction area of the township, which faces the snow-capped Mt. Ruapehu.
“It’s great for out-of-towners to meet the growers and see what they do – and appreciate where their vegetables come from,” Benefield explains. “It’s meant for the locals, but there are heaps more out-of-towners than locals who come along,” she says.
Benefield estimates the festival this year (June 4) attracted well more than 3,000 people, which is impressive considering the summer population of Ohakune is only about 1,200.
The festival itself is a street fair for the community and tourists, with dozens of craft stalls, bucking bronco type rides, and competitions. The carrot-costume competition drew 51 children entries, and carrot cake competition amassed dozens of intricately decorated sweets.
But it isn’t all fun and games for carrot growers these pandemic years. Like many other horticulture businesses, they struggle with lack of staff when overseas workers couldn’t enter the country, in addition to distribution complications.
Benefield says sales are still steady but it means each staff who usually does one job, now has to do two or three jobs.
Ohakune is a destination for foreign workers for both the agriculture industry and the ski fields on Mt. Ruapehu.
“We need our foreigners back,” Benefield adds.
Young says his family’s carrot and potato business has not tried to introduce new products into the market this year.
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Carrot man Dave Watson, snowdog Echo, owner Lisa Jaggi. |
“We are just going back to basics. We have cut down our product lines that come out of the packhouse because it is too expensive to have the extra staff to produce them. The last couple of years have been very tough for vegetable growers. The rising basic running costs dramatically going up has made being a grower very difficult. Even just the simple things have turned into momentous tasks, all because of the stress on the material supplies and running costs,” he says.
All the more important to have a day of convivial fun at the growers team competitions at the annual Carrot Festival, which has been running since 1984.
Nice and Crunchy!
Even dogs love the sweet taste of Ohakune carrots.
Many dogs accompanied their owners to this year's Ohakune Carrot Festival and could be seen begging for more of the fresh carrot pieces.
Television celebrity dog Echo was there keen on chomping on the raw vegetable from the roving carrot man. Echo featured on the TVNZ programme Dog Squad Puppy School and is training for Mt Ruapehu rescues.
Echo's owner Lisa Jaggi told Hort News he is always keen on raw carrots.
Festival sponsor and commercial grower Kim Young says carrots are nutritious to all animals, and he feeds them to their dog as a treat.
The American Kennel Club recommends giving dogs raw carrots to improve their dental health, but also they are "an excellent source of vitamin A, potassium, and fiber (sic), among other vitamins."
