Otago Goldfields Cavalcade
{{Short description|Annual event in New Zealand}}
{{Use New Zealand English|date=November 2024}}
{{infobox event
| Location = Otago
| also known as = Goldfields cavalcade
Otago Goldfields Heritage Trust Cavalcade
| organizers = Otago Goldfields Heritage Trust
| website = https://cavalcade.co.nz/
}}
The Otago Goldfields Cavalcade (officially the Otago Goldfields Heritage Trust Cavalcade) is an annual event in Otago, New Zealand. The cavalcade has run annually since its inception in 1991, and retraces the routes of wagons across country to the Dunstan goldfields around Cromwell. The original route, which established Cobb & Co.'s coach service, left Dunedin's Provincial Hotel on 22 November 1862. Present-day cavalcade routes vary each year in late February so as to finish in a different host town.
History
The original idea to recreate the wagon route as an annual cavalcade came from Fleur Sullivan, who wanted to boost tourism to small Otago towns.{{Cite news |last=Marquet |first=Sarah |date=2012-03-02 |title=Small towns at heart of cavalcade |url=https://www.odt.co.nz/regions/central-otago/small-towns-heart-cavalcade |access-date=2024-10-12 |work=Otago Daily Times |language=en}} Sullivan and Roberta Laraman, who co-ordinated the event for seventeen years, were honoured at the 25th anniversary cavalcade in 2017.{{Cite news |last=Jones |first=Pam |date=2017-03-06 |title=Instigators thanked as Cavalcade celebrates 25 years |url=https://www.odt.co.nz/regions/central-otago/instigators-thanked-cavalcade-celebrates-25-years |access-date=2024-10-12 |work=Otago Daily Times |language=en}}
The first cavalcade in 1991 attracted 220 people and 240 horses, and retraced the route from Dunedin's Provincial Hotel to Dunstan goldfields.{{Cite web |last=Emma |date=2018-04-26 |title=Behind the scenes on the Otago goldfields cavalcade |url=https://ourwayoflife.co.nz/ride-your-horse-with-the-otago-goldfields-cavalcade-in-2019/ |access-date=2024-10-12 |website=Our Way of Life |language=en-NZ}} Later events have allowed for horse-drawn wagons, coaches, walkers and cyclists to participate. The 2017 anniversary cavalcade attracted 500 participants.
The event originally took place in November, but was changed to February and March to take account of better weather.{{Cite web |date=2009-03-11 |title=History |url=https://cavalcade.co.nz/history/ |access-date=2024-10-12 |website=Goldfields Cavalcade |language=en}} In 2022 the event was cancelled due to COVID-19.{{Cite news |date=2022-02-09 |title=Anger, grief as cavalcade is called off |url=https://www.odt.co.nz/rural-life/rural-people/anger-grief-cavalcade-called |access-date=2024-10-12 |website=Otago Daily Times |language=en}}
References
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Category:Events in New Zealand
Category:Central Otago District
Category:Tourism in New Zealand
{{NewZealand-culture-stub}}