Gnomes descend on Takaka for a devious challenge
Cheryl Elsey shows one of Oak’s hiding places at Feel Good Food. PPhoto: Neil Wilson.
Little people, called among other things Erwin, August, Eon, and Marvin, are hiding in Takaka.
The Gnome Away from Home festival has been regarded as mostly a Collingwood-based event but anyone shopping in town in the last week would have noticed a very high gnome count in Takaka businesses, so the organisers’ wish to grow the festival into a Bay-wide event seems to be coming true.
To encourage the growth process, organisers have encouraged 26 Takaka business owners to hide a gnome somewhere on their premises. Shoppers need to find the gnome, upend him or her to find the name written underneath and record the names at least 20 of the gnomes on the official entry form. Forms are available in all the businesses where the gnomes are hiding. Completed entries go in the box in Take Note. One correct entry will be drawn to win a mystery prize during the Gnome Away From Home Festival in Collingwood this Saturday.
Gnome-spotting is not the doddle it sounds - at least it wasn’t for this reporter. Gnomes come in various sizes, so looking for whopping garden gnomes is a mistake. On top of that, some shop-owners had only a little bit of gnome actually visible, so I spent some time staring intently at shelves and looking bewildered.
There’s no doubt the gnome-spotting expedition took me to some places I wouldn’t ordinarily shop and it certainly made me look at what the shops have on their shelves. I made at least three discoveries that will take me back to buy. I met some hard-case gnomes too; Gnorris has a cool wolf-whistle and Gerrard and Tarvin (twin gnomes separated at birth?) talked to me in two different businesses but not necessarily very politely.
The Find the Gnome promotion gives locals a great excuse to drop into businesses to see what’s on offer and and have a chat to the staff. It was generating a fair bit of conversation in the street last Thursday as well. Is it good for business? Who knows; it’s certainly fun.
Neil Wilson
