Tora Coastal Walk, Martinborough Pharmacy, Scotty’s Meats and South Wairarapa Rotary_ Martinborough Fair _ have taken out a clutch of top prizes at the Wairarapa Awards for regional business.
Tora Coastal Walk won the “Diversification Award” and praise from the judges who said “this enterprise’s resilience and agility, in successfully pivoting and creating a sustainable business model.
The family-owned three-day walk, one of the longest-standing private walks in New Zealand, takes in farmland, native bush, river valleys and the rugged Tora coastline, complete with gourmet food, quality lodge accommodation and warm rural hospitality.
Martinborough Pharmacy won the Kloeg Family “Collective Experience” category for “an unwavering commitment to improving customers’ quality of life and becoming a beacon of genuine care and community focus.”
Scotty’s Meats took out the Mayor’s Taskforce for Jobs “Youth-Friendly Award” for providing apprenticeships and entry-level roles for local youth, in an otherwise dying craft.
Licensed to process home-kill, farm-kill, and wild game. Scotty has been serving Martinborough and beyond for 27 years.
The fourth category, Tranzit Group’s “Vibrant Award” win, was by South Wairarapa Rotary for its 27-year-old Martinborough Fair project.
The award was described by judges as “a fitting recognition for their nearly 50-year role in drawing hundreds of thousands of visitors to boost the local economy over that period.”
The first fair had just 35 stalls, while today demand for stalls exceeds the sites available, and the fair attracts more than 25,000 people from the southern North Island, including from New Plymouth and Hawkes Bay.
The year’s Supreme Award went to Farman Turkington Foresty for what judges called their “ground-breaking approaches to environmental standards and land stewardship.” It also took out the Innovation Award.
A Masterton-based forest company which operates in the Wairarapa and Wellington, it describes its “primary focus as harvesting and log marketing of forests and woodlots.”
Marie-Claire Andrews, chair of Business Wairarapa, praised this year’s finalists, noting that “every year the judging procxess gets harder _ as every finalist deserves to win.” She added that Wairarapa businesses should: “keep entering … and keep telling their story.”
