Eastern Bay businesses shone at this year’s Fieldays, with strong public engagement emerging as a common theme.

This year’s event at Mystery Creek attracted more than 132,000 visitors – the largest opening day attendance in recent history.

Exhibitor and vendor sites were sold out a month before the event, with 1100 stalls on display, including Eastern Bay representatives Podlife, Wrangler, NZ Autotraps and Ōhiwa Black Diamond Truffles, and participation from Whakatāne High School students.

For Podlife, which specialises in quality tiny homes and transportable homes, it was their ninth time at Fieldays in 10 years of operation.

Owner James Brownlee said the response from the public was overwhelming.

“We have had the biggest influx of people through our site over the last three days, and people are loving the overall quality and appearance of our buildings,” he said

“We are very proud to have been voted New Zealand’s most trusted transportable housing company eight years in a row, so we know we are doing something right. We have also had so many past clients come in and thank us for what we have been able to do for them.”

He said Fieldays was their biggest annual event and although it was a massive effort to attend, they wouldn’t miss it.

“Our success is a testament to the quality of our product, our team and the support of the public,” said Brownlee.

Wrangler, a well-known manufacturer of livestock equipment, has been exhibiting at Fieldays for the past 31 years and the event remains the agricultural highlight of the year for owners Wilco and Waverley Klein Ovink.

“Fieldays is an event we wouldn’t miss. Because of its size and scale, it is the biggest event we attend nationally, and we love our spot here and the interaction with the agricultural community. We keep coming back because it allows both us and our products to be seen.

“Fieldays helps set us up for the year and allows us to support the rural sector with the livestock equipment it needs. It takes a lot of work and planning to prepare for such a large event, but it’s totally worth it.

"The support from the farming community is amazing. We also enjoy networking with other businesses and often find ways we can help each other out,” said Wilco Klein Ovink.

NZ Auto Traps began in 2016 when the need for a self-resetting predator trap was identified. Ten years later, the Whakatāne company is finding its way into international markets.

Helping on the NZ Auto Traps stand was John Thompson, who came out of retirement after a 40-year career with Rentokil.

“I worked for Rentokil for 40 years and had just retired when NZ Auto Traps products started to gain attention. I decided to come out of retirement and join the team, and it has been going gangbusters.

“We have a new prototype on display, which is currently being trialled at two commercial sites in Auckland and Waikato. Recently, we received a call in the middle of the night from an almond farm in California wanting to know how they could get their hands on the product.

“Fieldays is an annual pilgrimage for NZ Auto Traps, and we have sold so many units there is now a waiting list. We had one customer order 400 traps last Monday, so a waiting list is a good problem to have,” said Thompson.

First-time Fieldays exhibitor Annette Munday from Ōhiwa Black Diamond Truffles admits the scale of the event came as a surprise.

“I was struck by the size of the event and the sheer number of people. I was warned I might sell out of product, but in the end, I think I took too much,” she said.

The company’s truffles generated plenty of interest, with many visitors surprised that truffles could be grown successfully in New Zealand and impressed by the variety of products available.

“We had truffle honey, oils, balsamic vinegar and truffle salt, but what really took the public by surprise were the truffle beauty products. We teamed up with Massey University to investigate the use of truffles in skincare and now have a range of beauty products. I believe this is a first for New Zealand and the Southern Hemisphere,” said Munday.

The experience left the team exhausted but delighted.

“We will definitely be back, but next time we will be taking extra people to help with the workload. It may take some time for my voice to recover,” she said.

Also venturing into the Fieldays cauldron were members of the Whakatāne High School Enviro Club, who participated in the University of Waikato’s Tent Talks programme.

Students from the Environmental Studies programme and the Enviro Club spoke about the school’s work surrounding sustainability and environmental restoration.

Their presentation, titled From Little Things, Big Things Grow, highlighted the incorporation of alternatives to fossil fuels at the school, along with wetland restoration and tree-planting projects. The talk was delivered by Nav Kaur and Charlotte Westeneng.

The pair presented the results of a recent wetland project on school grounds and launched a free tree giveaway programme in conjunction with Trees for Survival. The initiative involves growing approximately 950 seedlings to around 40 centimetres in height before distributing them to interested landowners.