In Pictures: Night of celebration at Love the Centre awards

Fieldays kicks off today, and while the gates open at Mystery Creek, the fun does not stop there. If you are in Hamilton for the New Zealand National Agricultural Fieldays (10 to 13 June 2026), make the most of your day and head into the central city afterwards for food, drinks and entertainment.
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• Fieldays Specials at Fun Zone, Centre Place, 65 Bryce Street (10 to 13 June, 3pm to 8pm). Mini golf 9 pp, laser tag 9 pp, escape rooms 28 pp, and arcade games 30% off.

• Fieldays Special at Confinement Escape Rooms, 6 Sapper Moore-Jones Place (10 to 14 June). Show your Fieldays ticket to receive 25% off your booking.

• Live Music at Keystone, 150 Victoria Street (10 to 13 June). Join them for late night drinks and live music.

• Fieldays Special at Eterna Cafe, 131 Victoria Street. $30 steak, chips, salad and can of coke. Open for breakfast, lunch, dinner, or a late-night meal, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

• Fieldays Special at The Mercury Room, 15 Hood Street (10 to 13 June). Pizza, beer and fries for only $25.50 pp, with warm cosy vibes after a big day on your feet.

• Happy Hour at The Local Taphouse, 346 Victoria Street (Tuesday to Friday, 4pm to 6pm). NZD 13 handles, NZD 11 wines, and NZD 11 ciders.

• Comedy Zone at Zone Sports Bar, 346 Victoria Street (12 June, 7.30pm). Round up your mates and finish the day with a laugh.

• Fieldays Party 2026, fundraising for Hamilton Young Farmers, Biddy Mulligans, 17B Hood Street (Thursday 12 June). Enjoy a beverage and boogie on this fun night out.

• Rodeo Rodeo Party at The Bank Bar, 117 Victoria Street (Friday 12 June, 9pm to 3am). Tickets from NZD 10, plus mechanical bull rides and live music energy.
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For more on what’s on visit lovethecentre.co.nz

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He’s possibly best known for establishing a store that for decades has helped many Hamilton youngsters find material for their school art projects.

Now David Lloyd is taking that role one step further with the establishment of a philanthropic fund that will help supply the city’s schools with money to foster their pupils’ creativity.

Managed by Momentum Waikato, the D Lloyds' Art Fund is named after both David and his son Dax, who died last year in Sydney following a cardiac arrest.

But before he gets into the specifics of explaining why he is doing what he is doing, there is one thing Lloyd wants to make clear:

“The apostrophe in the fund’s name comes after the S. That’s because it’s for Dax as well as myself. I realise the placement of that apostrophe is going to wind people up, but that’s tradition. I did leave the apostrophe out of Davids Emporium and that drove some people mad.”

It would be fair to say Lloyd, 83, has long been known for his cheeky sense of humour. He is also well known as an arts patron, and since he was 60 he has been making grants to Waikato schools to support their arts programmes.

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In this school holiday workshop, students learn the foundations of crafting with ceramic clay to make their own Monster Mugs!
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July 6th

9am - 12pm

Ages 5+

$40 pp
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Students learn slab-building techniques to form their mug, and moulding techniques to add the freaky faces!
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With opportunity for students to paint these mugs with underglaze, we will bisque and glaze fire every piece of work so they are food-safe and functional.

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Both the developer behind grandiose hotel plans and Hamilton City Council say they expect ‘positive’ progress as they prepare for crunch talks this week.

On Thursday, Auckland-based Templeton Group is due to update city leaders on its plans to build a 25-storey luxury hotel complex, which have been in the works since the council entered an unconditional agreement to sell Templeton Group land and property at Victoria Street in April, 2025.

The properties at 242 – 254 Victoria Street cost the council $3.75m in 2018.

Under terms of the land deal, HCC will sell these properties to Templeton Group for $6m, plus a share in the development profits.

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