Small but mighty: Hamilton scores event awards success

Industry experts say Hamilton is punching well above its weight when it comes to major events, with Homegrown’s success likely to attract organisers to the city.

It follows a strong performance at the New Zealand Events Association awards, with H3 Group and Homegrown music festival scooping up multiple national honours between them.

Claudelands Event Centre was named Venue of the Year for its role delivering Homegrown in the festival’s first year in Hamilton, while H3 Group’s impact events team leader Elly Moody was crowned Established Industry Professional of the Year.

Homegrown, which made the move to Hamilton after 18 years on Wellington’s waterfront, took out the Marketing or Creative of the Year award and was also a finalist for Music Event of the Year.

The one-day festival drew 25,000 attendees to Claudelands Oval, including more than 17,885 people from out of town and pumped almost $10m into the local economy.

For H3 director Ben Slatter, the awards confirm what he’s been saying all along.

“I’ve got a saying that big events don’t need big cities and we definitely proved that we can run big events here and they can do very well,” he told the Waikato Times.

He was candid that attracting major events could be competitive, with multiple cities putting in bids to host.