Graduation ceremonies and the Waikato Show are a few of the latest events to have been cancelled due to Covid-19.
On Monday, Wintec confirmed they had cancelled all remaining graduation ceremonies and parades, and Special Awards events from March 16 to 19.
"I understand this will be a huge disappointment for graduands, their families/whānau, friends and staff who have been looking forward to this day," Wintec chief executive, David Christiansen, said.
"This decision reflects developments around COVID-19 over the past 48 hours and the emerging position of the government. While recognising it is late notice, we've decided to make the call now to give people as much notice as possible."
He said Wintec would consider holding graduation ceremonies later in the year if the situation allowed.
In the meantime, all graduand qualifications will still be officially conferred. Wintec graduates have the option to collect their certificates or have them mailed out.
The 112th hosting of the Waikato Show has also been cancelled for the first time in recent history. The annual show was to be held at Claudelands on March 27 to 29, but the committee decided they couldn't continue, general manager Cara Ferris said.
"It was very difficult with the number of supporters, volunteers, and the team here who had put together the best Waikato Show of the last 10- 20 years. We were on track for 20,000 according to our social media and presales so we are pretty gutted, to be honest," Ferris said.
On the other hand, Whangamata's Beach Hop organisers are hoping they'll be able to proceed, having postponed the March 25-29 event until November 25-29th. It comes after Balloons Over Waikato cancelled public participation during their annual festival this week.
"It will come at a cost, we are a charity, everything hurts we are on a pretty fine line."
Presales will be refunded and while the physical show has been cancelled there will still be online competitions with art and photography.
The Beach Hop organisers announced on Facebook the postponement of the said event:
"We hope that the virus pandemic will be more controlled over the next eight months so we can celebrate our 20th year of this wonderful event. More details for entrants about how this will work will follow in due course, so please don't throw away your entry packs in the meantime."
Meanwhile, the southern hemisphere's largest agricultural show The Fieldays—to be held at Mystery Creek on June 10 to 13—is continuing to undertake guidance from authorities regarding the evolving COVID-19 situation before making a decision to whether the event will be cancelled.
"Whilst we may see further restrictions formally announced by the Government, we acknowledge this is an evolving situation and undertake to update all our valued stakeholders as soon as practically possible," the organisation said in a statement.
The Waitomo District Council has also decided to cancel The Great NZ Muster for 2020. The event to have been held on April 4 is described as "A cross between a country fair and a rural extravaganza, it truly is kiwi heartland at its best."
The council said the event falls into the "mass gathering" criteria as a free event that is non ticketed, therefore cancelling the event was the right thing to do for our community and all those attending the event.
Source: Stuff NZ
Image: Stuff.co.nz, from Tom Lee/Fairfax NZ
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