Martinborough Business Association

Happy New Year! One month down already, can you believe it?!?!

Summer vibes have been abundant over the past few weeks, with visitors galore, the town has literally been buzzing, much like a bee hive there is a sense of getting out and enjoying everything there is to offer.

Martinborough has such a plentiful food & wine scene it is no wonder we are a destination that our Wellington neighbours love dearly.

Hop over the hill and you can have the most fabulous break offering so many different kinds of adventures.

This month we will notice the kids going back to school and the rhythm changing once again , but weekends will continue to be when our town  fills and its so easy to enjoy the wave of what people love, knowing come Monday we get to stay, in what is the perfect place.

As we look ahead to the coming year the MBA will be looking as always at continuing to build the relationships to make sure as well as thinking locally we act as a region.

We are currently discussing what our next sustainable project will be and hope to share here soon. … Continue Reading

Book review – One summer

Bill Bryson’s One Summer is set in America in 1927 a year of, as he puts it, reckless optimism and delirious energy. A year which saw the birth of talking movies, the peak of Al Capone’s reign, Banker’s ill conceived decisions which led to the great depression and the launch of the Model A Ford. 

This book is treasure chest of information as Bryson records this ‘anything goes in USA’ year in his easy to read style.  A year ruled over by a ‘do nothing’ President Calvin Coolidge who seldom worked more than four hours a day and spent three month long holidays in his Black Hills Dakota ranch. 

The national hero was Charles Lindbergh who had become the first person to fly solo across the Atlantic from America.  His single engine plane was devoid of navigation instruments and had no forward vision. To see where he was going Lindbergh  had to fly it sideways crab like and look out of the side window. 

Al Capone was at his height of power creating mayhem seemingly untouchable by law officers. Little could he suspect that, Mabel Walker, a little known Federal prosecutor, was hatching a clever plan which was to prove his downfall. Likewise four banking executives could not have dreamed that the secret meeting to plan to make even more money would be the catalyst for the great depression.  … Continue Reading

Aratoi exhibitions

Aratoi’s late summer exhibitions focus on the region’s talented and eclectic artists, through the biennial competition New Zealand Sotheby’s International Realty Wairarapa Art Review and our first in a new Artist Showcase series.

Natasha Cousens continues to share the main gallery space with Distant Kinship/Verre Verwanten; her dark fairy tale interprets epic worldwide myths through resin woodland creatures, while the combined show from Dutch and NZ printmakers shows the kinship between both countries and the variety of printmaking techniques. Steve Carr’s exhibition Making Space has been extended until the 6^th March.

ConArt Gallery & Studios: Artist Showcase #1

Dates: 12 Feb – 3 April

Four selected artists from ConArt Gallery & Studios come together in the first of a new artist showcase series. Paintings in oil and acrylic, ceramics and photographs sit side by side demonstrating the incredible level of local artistic talent within the region. An artist talk will take place 11am on 12 February. … Continue Reading