Double unhappy for Taupō fireworks
The cost of putting on events looks like it will hit both of Taupō’s fireworks shows this year.
The cancellation by the Taupō District Council of the town’s annual Big Bang New Year’s Eve fireworks display was last week being put down to costs and environmental concerns.
By Chris Marshall
A council Facebook post last week sympathised in advance with predicted disappointment but noted there were various reasons for the cancellation, mostly to do with the budget.
“We’ve had a clear direction from elected members to keep rates down and focus on essential services only. In addition, we would also need approval to launch the fireworks from the lake and there are significant environmental concerns raised following last year’s event,” the announcement said.
“We have investigated a number of other options and locations, however holding a land-based display or a drone show would cost significantly more.”
The town’s other major organiser of festivities involving fireworks – Lake Taupō Rotary – also says its annual Guy Fawkes show is “up in the air at the moment” and cites costs as a major factor.
Rotary president Noel Rodgers said the service club would be looking to make an official announcement in a couple of weeks.
Rotary announced the cancellation of its planned 2025 event in mid-October last year noting that it operated the event each year solely on volunteer support and sponsorship, with the gate entry fees covering only a portion of the event costs.
Rodgers says the same issues apply in 2026.
As a service club it needs to know it will run events at a breakeven point or with a slight profit “which of course is then put back into the community”.
“If there’s no clear way forward with funding then choices will have to be made, but all is not lost, there are other things we are looking at doing, we won’t go away with our tails between our legs.”
The economic climate, donor support and business anxiety were all playing their part in making finding sponsors difficult, he says, and had contributed to other Rotary events not making the profit they might have in previous years or having to be cancelled.
Previous reports have suggested the Rotary Guy Fawkes event costs in the vicinity of $80-90,000 to put on and the council’s media team said delivering the TDC lake-based fireworks display last year cost about $53,000, including around $40,000 for the fireworks.
“Last year the delivery costs were $13,447.11,” the team also noted.
“More than half of this was made up of traffic management costs and the rest was event monitoring, event delivery, security, portaloos, permit cost and advertising.”
The ‘significant environmental concerns’ included those raised by the Tūwharetoa Māori Trust Board (TMTB), the council applied to for permission to use the lake for launching the fireworks, said the council in response to questions.
These related to fireworks debris and rubbish thrown over the lakefront bank by people gathering at Te Atea on New Year’s Eve to watch the display.
Online responses to the announcement included those in support relating to reduced stress on pets and cost savings with others decrying the loss of the spectacle – one business even offered a sponsorship pledge of $2,000 which amounts to about 3.7% of the cost.
The August 13 council announcement also warned readers of other potential cancellations.
“While we hate delivering this bad news, it's likely there will be other projects or community events that may need to be cancelled or reduced as we look to further reduce council spending. These will need to happen as we move towards trying to deliver council activities in a rates-capped environment.
“There are still lots of things to look forward to over summer and throughout the year including the Lake Taupō Cycle Challenge, the two-day Le Currents Music, Culture and Arts Festival, and of course the 2027 Taupō Summer Concert.”