Gisborne locals say allowing music festival Rhythm and Vines to go ahead would be an open invitation for Covid-19 to arrive.
Vaccination sign in Gisborne. Photo: RNZ / Tom Kitchin
Currently the region with the lowest fully-vaccinated rate, at 75 percent, Tairāwhiti will be placed under red traffic light restrictions from Friday.
Unless that setting changes quickly, the country's biggest New Year's festival will be cancelled.
Locals out walking in sun-soaked Tūranganui-a-Kiwa yesterday were firmly saying 'no' to Rhythm and Vines this year.
"I really don't think R&V should go ahead at all, it just can't, it's just an invitation for us," one resident said.
"I am totally against R&V because the risk of the infection coming in. They say there are tests but you always get those idiots that will come and sneak through," said another.
"To be honest, I wouldn't want R&V here for the fact we are going through this coronavirus at the moment and with it being a concert and people having to stand so close to each other, we can't predict what's going to happen after the concert goes ahead, the [case] numbers may go up," one woman told RNZ.
"People are going to come down to Gisborne anyway, but R&V, it's a huge amount of people and I think it does put our community at risk," another said.
The four iwi in Tairāwhiti - Te-Aitanga-a-Māhaki, Ngāi Tāmanuhiri, Ngāti Porou and Rongowhakaata - have said no too, saying the 20,000 to 30,000 festival-goers would be too much of a threat.
Rhythm and Vines festival in 2019. Photo: Rhythm and Vines 2019
Tairāwhiti Gisborne Chamber of Commerce president Belinda Mackay said although the festival provided a few million dollars in GDP it was not a huge boost to business.
"Typically the R&V people stay out there at the location, they come in, companies like Pak'nSave will miss the business, but generally, the feeling is we don't get a whole lot out of it."
On the other hand, she said, it helped kick-start summer.
"It does sort of put a stake in the ground and says 'hey, summer's here', and a lot of events tend to follow after that. But I just read in the local paper that some of the events following that have also been cancelled this year, so potentially summer's going to look a little bit quieter here in Tairāwhiti."
Gisborne Mayor Rehette Stoltz said it was not her place to take a position on whether the festival should happen, but she was hearing concerns.
"That's not our call to make, or my call to make, my main focus is to get our people vaccinated. So at this stage, I have been made aware that there are petitions and there people are in our community that are concerned about R&V going ahead and that feedback has been fed back to R&V."
She did not think the region would be out of the red light within two weeks, when the government planned to review the traffic light.
But she still hoped a decision on the festival from its organisers would come soon.
"They will make that call, hopefully in the next short while so that people can plan accordingly."
In a tweet last night, Rhythm and Vines said it was working "collaboratively and closely" with the Gisborne community including key stakeholders, Tairāwhiti iwi and local authorities.
The post said an update on plans should be expected in due course.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said it was ultimately up to festivals across the country to decide whether they should cancel or not.
She said if they chose not to go ahead, the government's event transition support was available. She had no advice on them cancelling or going ahead.