Flowers and Cycles bring style to Highwic

October 26

MEDIA RELEASE

Flowers and Cycles bring style to Highwic

A celebration of cycling and heritage will roll out in Newmarket on November 18 as part of Highwic’s 150th anniversary celebrations.

Highwic Cycle Style will involve people of all ages riding their decorated bikes en masse down Broadway and returning back to Highwic, one of the properties cared for by the NZ Historic Places Trust (NZHPT), where prizes will be awarded for the best decorated cycles.

Besides being creative fun, the free community event aims to celebrate bikes in everyday life by promoting cycling as a mainstream transport choice, and a great urban activity. Organised by the NZHPT, the event is supported by the Newmarket Business Association, Cycle Action Auckland and Auckland Transport.

Normal road rules apply and a police escort has been arranged courtesy of Sgt Matt Knowsley from the Newmarket Police station. Cyclists must wear helmets, though because of the police escort there will be no need for fluros.

Back at Highwic after the parade, participants will be able to enjoy Auckland’s “longest surviving” Irish band – The Leprechauns – performing a mix of Irish and pop music with Celtic tunes and punchy dance tracks. People can also play lawn games and learn more about city cycling.

The Cycle Style event will mark the last day of Highwic’s Festival of Flowers, which runs from November 16-18 and will feature spectacular floral arrangements throughout the house courtesy of members of the Coatesville Country Garden Club.

Guest florist Fionna Hill, whose book Country Style Flowers has sold over 60,000 copies internationally, will lead the creative team.

“Fionna is an extraordinary florist, so we’re looking forward to seeing what she and the Coatesville Country Garden Club create,” says Cheryl.

The floral festival and decorated bike parade have their roots in a historic connection with Highwic.

“The Auckland Ladies’ Benevolent Society organised an annual Festival of Flowers in the late 19th Century, which was well supported by the Buckland family of Highwic. In 1895 the festival featured a parade of decorated horse and carriages, carts, perambulators with babies, dog carts, ponies, brakes and drags, fire engines, pets and polo ponies, and of course bikes and tricycles,” she says.

“We’re picking up these historical connections with a modern take on the flower festival and the cycle decoration traditions, recapturing that community spirit, and encouraging young and old to use their imaginations to transform their bikes into mobile works of art.”

And as part of Highwic’s Festival of Flowers, garden enthusiasts have the opportunity to meet gardening celebrities Maggie Barry and Jack Hobbs at a special function on November 16 (6-8pm, tickets $25).

Throughout the Festival’s three days, Highwic volunteers will operate a pop up café in the property’s Billiard House – the scene of many social gatherings over the last 150 years.
“One thing is for sure – it will be a stunning event, so come along to Highwic and expect to be wowed!”

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