Godzone team sparks business celebration

April 19th, 2016
[by David Armstrong, with apologies for photo quality]

Claire Hutt and Matt Galvin

The trials and triumphs of the Team Motueka Godzone competitors were shown and told at a social gathering held last night by Our Town Motueka to wrap up the busy summer business season.

The occasion, to celebrate a strong retail summer and to urge businesses to take advantage of the new Love Motueka website, was held at Elevation Cafe and attended by about 20 business owners.

Two of the Team Motueka foursome, Brent Steinmetz and Jake Stow, showed video and photos taken during their recent Godzone endurance event, in which they were placed an impressive eighth out of about 50 teams.

Describing some of the highlights and low times, they said how much they loved the support by Motueka people, especially over the final day as they pedalled down the Motueka River West Bank and over the Takaka Hill, and then paddled in to the finish line at Kaiteriteri.

"It certainly helped get us out of some very dark places, knowing how much support we had in our hometown," Brent said. The severe shortage of sleep made decision-making and navigating a critical aspect of their effort.

Our Town Motueka committee member Matt Galvin MC'ed the informal event, with support from the recently appointed OTM Secretary/Treasurer Claire Hutt.

"The main theme of the evening is positiveness and celebration for the past season," said Claire.

"It's a small step for boosting moral, but I am very confident that with more communication from Our Town committee members, we can really get people feeling proud and excited, even with the slower retail months coming up."

Matt and Claire spoke once again about the "Love Motueka" video which was released early in the year and has gone "viral" on social media, with tens of thousands of views and shares around the world. (See our earlier story.)

The video is the foundation and selling point of the new Our Town website, www.lovemotueka.com, drawing tourists and potential customers into finding out what business services are available in the town.

But the Our Town committee continue to be frustrated by the low number of businesses who are taking advantage of the free business listing that they are entitled to on the website.

Claire has been busy in recent weeks - and will step up her activities even further - visiting businesses, introducing herself, and encouraging them to use the listing facility, to "claim their space on the website".

"Your listing is free, but in fact you've already paid for it through your annual business rate, so why not take advantage of it?" she said.

She is also offering a service for those who don't feel confident technologically to create their listing. For a small sum of $40 she will be happy to spend up to an hour with any business who wants her to do it for them.

"That's a tiny amount to pay for something which potentially will attract huge numbers of new customers."

In his typical upbeat manner Matt, who owns the Kai Waka cafe, said that the largely new Our Town committee has a huge amount of enthusiasm about its task and wants to ensure that they can engage with as many businesses as possible to help make Motueka businesses stronger.

Jake Stow (left) and Brent Steinmetz answering questions about their Godzone race

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