Mayor thanks community and VCC Rally organisers - 3/02/2012

“Our community really got into the spirit of the rally, providing a warm welcome to our visitors, extending the hand of friendship, and making the most of the opportunity to take part in the public events,” Mayor Main said.

“It was a joy to see the hundreds of vintage cars on our district’s roads and the smiles on everyone’s faces as they spotted the vehicles. The huge turnout for the rally open day at the racecourse was amazing – but equally amazing was the number of people who lined our streets when the cars did their farewell tour of the suburbs. We all greatly appreciated that generous and popular gesture by the rally organisers and participants.

“The presence of Nick Mason from Pink Floyd, and his actress wife Annette, provided additional opportunities for national media interest, he was generous with his time, especially with young musicians, and they both thoroughly enjoyed the time spent in our community.

“On behalf of our district, I want to publicly thank the VCC Rally organisers, in particular those from our community, for bringing this event to our district. It was exceptionally well run and jam-packed with activities for the participants. It was great that the community was able to join in some events.

“We are still to assess the economic impact of the large numbers of visitors, 200 from overseas alone, but we know already the huge benefit in publicity and word of mouth promotion that is occurring.

“We proved that Wanganui can host a major international event in style and I’m sure we will see the benefits of that in years to come. These are the events that put us on the map for all the right reasons and while we’re not likely to get another international rally of this size here again, I am sure we can continue our relationship with VCC and bring other events which build on our assets, here to Wanganui.”