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Once, for travellers heading to Northland, a sure highlight of the trip was passing through the twinkling town of Kaiwaka. Holidaymakers would slow down to see the glowing works of art atop the roofs of community buildings and businesses. Then, one day the town went dark. Jonathan Killick investigates the history of the little town of lights and speaks to a group of locals attempting to rekindle its once shining reputation…
Thirty years ago, Kaiwaka’s Mark Ottaway decided that St Paul’s Church, next to his small bakery on Mangawhai Road, would look better if it was lit up.
Mark had always been fascinated with lights, but after a trip to Las Vegas he had visions of Kaiwaka lighting the way for travellers into Northland.
The trouble was, the technology of the day was difficult to work with. If just one bulb on a string blew, all of the lights would go out.
But, Mark found a man in Napier with a revolutionary redesign of the humble fairy light. The bulbs fitted onto a wire track and could easily be removed, replaced or repositioned, and stayed on even if one of them blew.
So, Mark measured up the church, bought the lights and put them up with the help of a local farmer who had a cherry picker. With the church looking so good, it didn’t take long before other businesses wanted in on the fun.
Luckily, Mark had help from his mate Barry Treadwell who was an engineer. Businesses would come to them with their idea, and Mark would design the lights while Barry would engineer a frame to support it.
At the peak, there were upwards of 20 lights in Kaiwaka. There was a fish on the takeaway shop, a shamrock on the service station, an ABC on the school, a letterbox on the post office. Even the fire brigade had a tower with neon flames.
But Barry’s pièce de résistance was an eight-metre high and 10-metre-long sailing ship, mounted on what is now the Small Pukeko’s Learning Centre, visible from the highway.
The lights quickly took over the town’s identity and put Kaiwaka on the map. Postcards and pens were made up, and the legend of the “little town of lights” was spread by starry eyed holidaymakers.
For Kaiwaka’s 150th anniversary in 2009, the town had a contest for costumes made from lights and 240 people took part. It was an unofficial attempt to get in the Guinness Book of World Records for the most people wearing lights.
However, sometime in the 2010s everything changed. The incandescent bulbs the light displays had relied upon disappeared from the market and were replaced by LEDs.
“They were a disaster,” Mark recalls.
The cheaply manufactured LED lights didn’t last long and if one bulb went out, it would mean painstakingly cutting it out and soldering in a new one.
Mark and Barry couldn’t keep up. Then a particularly bad hail storm hit the town and destroyed several of the lights, effectively plunging the town into a dark age.
The name Little Town of Lights may have persisted in myth, but visitors hoping to glimpse the glimmering highway town were left disappointed.
Shaky start
Flash forward to 2021. The Kaiwaka Can residents’ group has sparked to life despite a shaky start. Its new president, David Wright, admits that it still has a way to go to turn around its reputation as “Kaiwaka Can’t”, but things are moving again.
“I jumped up and down at a meeting protesting the inaction. It might have been a mistake because then I got the job,” he says.
One of Kaiwaka Can’s big projects has been turning the lights back on, and they’ve had some success. The Four Square has its logo, Kaiwaka Yamaha has a lawnmower, the library has its original open book and reading glasses, the hairdressers has scissors, the Gateway North Motel has a bed, cup and saucer, and the Cheese Shop has a windmill.
David and fellow member Henk Van Der Woerd have been offering their services designing and installing the lights for free, while the materials are supplied at cost.
Once again, the lights have benefitted from a step change in technology. David and Henk have found a new generation of LEDs called “neon flex”.
They are bright, waterproof and long-lasting. One of the test units is still burning bright after three years, and is yet to show signs of wear.
Thanks to a confidential connection, Kaiwaka Can is able to import the lights at a wholesale price, and offers local businesses their own customised sign for around $250.
David believes that next year will be Kaiwaka’s moment in time with several projects coming to fruition. Two new footbridges will safely connect the two ends of the town for pedestrians, following a successful proposal by Kaiwaka Can to council and the Provincial Growth Fund.
The bridges will also connect with Kaiwaka’s under-used green space, McClean Park. Town residents have recently been busy cleaning the park up with well-attended working bees.
Kaiwaka Can’s vision for the park is to have a loop walkway along the river and a pontoon to launch kayaks from, providing access to the Kaipara Harbour.
David and Henk are also planning to resurrect Barry’s ship of lights, which they have dug out from a paddock at the edge of town, and display it by the river using solar power.
Momentum
Despite all this progress, Kaiwaka Can is still having some trouble getting businesses to take advantage and help rekindle the town’s luminous reputation.
David says there are several businesses who want to get a light but their landlord won’t allow them to. He says the trouble is that large sections of the town’s commercial premises are owned by a small number of landlords who, so far, haven’t shown enthusiasm.
“We are hoping that as the momentum keeps building, they will take notice of how the community is getting behind these projects.”
David says the town used to have a small and tight-knit community that would roll up its sleeves and get things done. Today, the town has grown with new arrivals from across the country and overseas.
It has become more diverse, and it is a matter of reconnecting people in the town and working together to make it into something everybody can be proud of,” he says.
