Business Assn. News

By Charlotte Harding 

“It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas” as Mr Bublé would say.

The Christmas garlands are up and this year with the addition of a Christmas Tree in the Village Courtyard.  Thanks again to the outgoing Martinborough Community Board and the businesses who have supported this annual project over the past 3 years.

November has seen two of our bigger annual events return to almost pre Covid conditions. The festival look and feeling are in full swing as  people look forward to Christmas.

This time of the year isn’t without its challenges.  Being a visitor destination, there is high  expectation from visitors of  a fabulous experience when they come to Martinborough and the Wairarapa. To meet this expectation  juggling our staffing challenges with our own needs means sometimes our business owners and operators have to make concessions about when they get to enjoy a break in our paradise.

With this in mind, the upcoming “Magic in Martinbrough” Christmas celebration on the 10th & 11th of December is hopefully a blend of ticking off the Christmas shopping and some family fun for our community too.

Business owners and operators in retail and hospo  who are  MBA members will be running a fun shop hop competition.  Ask for a  shop hop card and a purchase made gets you a stamp which is one entry into the competition to win a fabulous Martinborough hamper of goodies.

The Square will feature family fun including the chance to have a photo with Santa, get your face painted, gift a donation to the Martinborough Foodbank at the Twiggy Estate tree which is also up for grabs in a raffle! You can learn the art of furoshiki, which will take gift wrapping in a whole new direction! Register for a workshop on the Martinborough Wine Village Facebook page and check everything we will have going on.

Because bikes are a bit of a thing here in Martinborough we also invite locals to enter the decorated bike or scooter competition at 4 pm on Saturday the 10th. The Martinborough Community Board will judge and have some prizes up for grabs. So get creative and come on down with a picnic to enjoy the live music,  Madcaps Carols and some festive family fun.

Finally a thank you to all our Martinborough Business Association members, we look forward to working together in 2023 and we hope you enjoy some time off to celebrate with your loved ones.

Happy Holidays everyone!  Martinborough Business Association