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Sika Show

Thermal Explorer funding helps make Sika Show a roaring success

The Sika Show attracts thousands of outdoorspeople to the Waikato every year, providing an unforgettable weekend away, raising money for worthy causes and bringing millions of tourist dollars to the region.

It’s grown into Australasia’s largest hunting and outdoor show, but organiser Mike Penn says getting to this point would have been “extremely tough” without the well-timed support of the Thermal Explorer Regional Events Fund.

“We applied in 2021 and were granted two years of funding to grow the audience among people outside the Thermal Explorer region.

“Without that I don’t know if we would have survived; my wife Natalie and I had just taken on the event as a mum and dad team
along with John and Jacki Cook a year earlier and then had to cancel both the 2020 and 2021 shows and reschedule the 2022 event because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

“We had to sell a property – our nest egg for retirement – to keep the show going, so in October 2022 when it could finally be held again and we had 10,000 people come along it was a pretty emotional moment.”

Mike says around 70 per cent of attendees over the past two years have come from outside the Thermal Explorer region, which encompasses Waikato, Rotorua, Taupō and Ruapehu.

“Hotels and restaurants in places like Cambridge and Hamilton all get booked up and last year we had more than $2 million spent on the show floor across the two days.”

The event’s reach and the buzz it creates around the region is something he’s extremely proud of. What’s more, word of the event is now spreading internationally.

“People from all over Australia, South Africa, Scotland and America make the trip, it’s quite mind blowing to see the growing global interest.

“This year’s event will include the worldwide release of an international documentary made by Blood Origins showcasing amazing hunter-led conservation projects from around the world, including the extraordinary work of the Sika Foundation.”

The 2024 Sika Show on 2-3 November will be the event’s 31st anniversary. It started in Taupō in 1993 and ran successfully there for more than two decades before moving to its current location at Mystery Creek, near Hamilton, to make hosting larger crowds possible.

Mike says as well as being a fantastic day out, a unique aspect of the Sika Show is its focus on fundraising for outdoor, conservation and mental health support.

In 2023 more than $13,000 was raised for community groups including Rural Support Trust, Greenlea Rescue Helicopter, New Zealand Tahr Foundation, Sika Foundation, Maunga Tia Kiwi Project and the New Zealand Youth Search & Rescue Training Programme.

The show has also inspired dozens of volunteers to join the Sika Foundation – a not-for-profit organisation working to create a healthy Sika hunting resource, thriving natural habitats and strong relationships across the outdoor community.

Supporting the Sika Foundation is one of the main objectives of the Sika Show and Mike says fundraising initiatives and a membership drive at the event have helped the foundation to do a variety of conservation, deer management and community projects. That includes 7,500 volunteer hours of community work and conservation projects in Kaimanawa Forest Park – a key Sika deer habitat – over the past 12 months.

“Giving back to the hunting and outdoors community, along with mental health support organisations, is right up there with our top motivations.

“We want to promote hunter etiquette and conservation, support groups that give back to the outdoors, and assist Sika Foundation initiatives looking after the Kaimanawas, restoring whio blue duck populations and providing hunter-donated venison to food banks.”

Mike says the large crowds over the past two years have happened despite heavy rain at the 2022 event and a scheduling clash with the Rugby World Cup Final in 2023.

“I’m looking forward to having sunny weather and hopefully no major event clashes this year.

“We want to keep growing attendance and showing the positives around the hunting community. Many people don’t know about the conservation and sustainability aspects of hunting, or the quality connections with nature and other people that come from spending time together outdoors.”

Reflecting on the Sika Show’s journey so far, Mike says dogged determination, a willingness to learn, and unwavering support from event exhibitors, sponsors and attendees have been key to getting through the tough times.

“Most sporting and outdoor events don’t last more than a decade, but the Sika Show has been lucky to develop a bit of a cult following.”

In addition to the grant funding, the advice gleaned from Thermal Explorer Regional Events Fund workshops held over the past few years has been invaluable, he says.

“The workshops for me helped with growth, identified things we could improve, validated what we were doing right, and helped us connect with and share ideas with other event managers. We didn’t know a lot about events in the first year but we backed ourselves and the workshops helped us develop.”

About the Thermal Explorer Regional Events Fund

The $3.75 million Thermal Explorer Regional Events Fund was established by the New Zealand Government in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic to help stimulate domestic tourism and travel to the Waikato, Rotorua, Taupō and Ruapehu regions by supporting events.

Fifty events have been offered funding since the fund was created, attracting an estimated 370,000 people to the Thermal Explorer region.

The fund is now in its final year. It is managed collectively through the Event Investment Panel, which is made up of a representative from each of the regional tourism organisations in the Thermal Explorer area – Hamilton & Waikato Tourism (Lead Entity), RotoruaNZ, Destination Great Lake Taupō, and Visit Ruapehu – and one local council representative from each of the four regions.