I am seeing photos of exhibits from live daffodil shows in New Zealand – seeing them on the “Daffodilians!” Facebook page. I am curious if they have figured out a way to hold shows, safely, that we might learn from for our US 2021 shows. I will be posting this question on the Daffodilians! page, but wondered if any daffnet readers have ideas/thoughts on this.
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A discussion forum for daffodil enthusiasts around the world.
They can hold live daffodil shows because their political leadership used science and not voodoo magic to deal with the covid- virus.
There is nothing special about they way they hold their shows.
I thought Daffnet members may be interested in the actual situation in New Zealand.
As of 11am this morning we currently have 111 active Covid 19 cases in New Zealand, 16 are from imported visitors with the remainder from community transmission. Virtually all of the community transmission are from one cluster.
The country is at two alert levels at the moment, the greater Auckland area is at alert level three which basically means that the area is shut off from the rest of the country. Residents are required to stay home wherever possible, maintain social distancing and gatherings are limited to ten or less people for weddings and funerals. Transport in and out of Auckland is very difficult.
The rest of the country is at level two which has far fewer restrictions. We are to practice social distancing, stay at home if you are sick and gatherings are limited to 100 people.
There is only one daffodil show held in Auckland and this was cancelled prior to restrictions. The rest of the country under level two can hold shows provided the numbers are 100 people or less. It is hoped that the restrictions for the remainder of the country will be eased this coming week and there appears currently to be no community transmission outside Auckland.
The two National Daffodil Shows will be held in Hamilton and Christchurch on September 12th and 13th and September 26th and 27th respectively. Hopefully with restrictions lifted these shows will go ahead, we intend in Hamilton to hold the show and just restrict the numbers if necessary.
The Northern Daffodil Club has already held two smallish table shows, our main show is this coming Saturday.
The season in the Waikato is very early, in my case varieties that are normally in flower in late September are flowering now, the problem will be holding them for the shows.
Robin Hill
President – National Daffodil Society of New Zealand.
These are very stressful times in the United States and other parts of the world over the Covid-19 virus.
In the United States the situation is possibly even more stressful because our coming presidential election this November has strongly opinionated groups supporting different theories about the virus.
The ADS strongly discourages discussions that discriminate, hurt or insult others and it is our policy to remove content that discusses politics or religion.
In my opinion the New Zealand daffodil shows are special because of their wonderful cultivars and friendly people.
I am not wishing to get in to any politics in any way shape or form. I am, instead, seriously wondering if there are any changes made in NZ with how they conducted their shows this year. Such as perhaps changing how they arranged the judges so they are not all hovering closely together over a bloom. Maybe I’m being naive — I thought perhaps we in the US could borrow some “best practices” from those who have successfully held shows. It never occurred to me that this, too, would turn political! I apologize – I was indeed naive.
Here in the Wellington area we usually have two shows a year: Titahi Bay,
Porirua and Hutt Valley Horticultural Show in Lower Hutt. The first was
cancelled in June as the excellent venue, a school hall, is not being
hired out this year because of Covid 19. Had this not happened & had we stayed
at level 2, we would have cancelled anyway as social distancing would have been
very difficult. This is the reason we’ve postponed the in- house Club show,
planned for the August meeting, till September when we hope to be back to
level 1.
The second show in the new, large exhibition centre is still going ahead at
present but if we go to a higher level, then it will be cancelled too.
Margaret Seconi
Wgtn Rep. NDSNZ
Margaret,
I’m sad that you had to apologise for your question as the answers need not be political yet they inherently are. We have a small and isolated country. Our politicians took a strong and punishing stand which most people respected. The restrictions will destroy many businesses. As a consequence we have been able to free up much of our country and virus spread is largely under control. We were free of most restrictions but a pocket of virus spread in Auckland has made some restrictions return. Small gatherings outside of Auckland have been permitted, masks are still required and social distancing recommended. That will apply to our shows.
Two of our shows in Christchurch were cancelled months ago. We will still have local club shows and the Nationals are still planned to proceed as normal as long as Covid is only in the controlled Auckland clusters. Most of our people are being sensible yet a few make it scary for the rest.
My catch phrase is COVID willing.
Well said Administrator – Daffnet is not a place to promote political views. I have de-friended a few people from Facebook because of
persistent political postings – we get enough politics in the radio and TV!