Katikati is further securing its seat as the avocado capital of New Zealand – literally!

Two creative projects are being fundraised for this year by local groups including Katikati Open Air Art, Katikati Rotary and Katch Katikati to add to the avocado capital's reputation.

One is creating avocado shaped seat to be dotted in the heart of the town and the other is making a large metal avocado sculpture to be installed at Diggelmann Park.

Katch Katikati promotions manager and avocado lover Jacqui Knight says the avocado chairs will be eye catching pieces similar to the Morrinsville cow sculptures concept.

'People can sponsor a chair and then it will be painted by an artist and installed in the centre of Katikati. We're aiming for 10 to start with.

'Hopefully the big avocado sculpture will be one of those iconic things like the Paeroa L&P bottle or the Cromwell fruit that people take a photo of themselves with.”

The year to make it happen

Decking out the avocado capital with iconic features has been in the pipeline for a few years says Jacqui, ever since the town was crowned with the capital title in 2018.

'Covid changed things. People didn't have money to donate to things like this so it's all been a bit messy but we're thinking 2023 is the year to make it happen!”

All up Katch Katikati is seeking to raise $160,000 –requiring about $80,000 for each project.

'We're about a tenth of the way there.”

Jacqui and the team are door knocking to raise funds and are planning to run fundraising events this year to support their avocado ambitions.

'If funding allows we'll keep doing more and more chairs so it's a really good marriage between avocado capital and New Zealand mural capital.

'It will showcase our horticultural industry and how important avocados are to the region, and hopefully keep people here a bit longer if they are passing through.”

Jacqui tries to eat the super fruit every day and thinks it's fantastic that Katikati is Aotearoa's avocado cornerstone.

One of the biggest

'It's our livelihood for the region and it's a great thing to be able to hang our hat on really.” She says Katikati has the best soil for producing the best avocados in our country.

'There's a lot of work going on in Northland at the moment with avocados… but we were one of the biggest regions to get [avocado growing] going and it really did start here right back in the 1970s.

'We might not always be the biggest producer but you don't have to be big to be best, do you?”