A quest to create more special Riverton memories
“We want to bring back those family memories of the Sound Shell, and I think I’m speak on behalf of all of the community in Riverton.”
Jaimee McCabe’s quest to get a new blues and jazz festival off the ground at Riverton can been traced back to a walk two-and-a-bit years ago.
It was during that stroll down the beach at Taramea Bay when the seed for an ambitious event was sown.
McCabe was born and bred in Riverton, although her fiancé isn’t.
He asked about the area at Taramea Bay where the Sound Shell was once home to many events.
“All of these memories flooded back from the days of the Sound Shell,” McCabe told The Southland Tribune.
“There was excitement in the air during that time. There was the carnival, bands, there was Miss Southland. I even remember doing a dance on stage to Michael Jackson with a friend, I was probably 12 years old.
“Just all of the excitement, because Riverton would be pumping with people. I thought it is a bit sad that we haven’t seen that for a long time.”
The first carnival was held in Riverton in 1955 before the Taramea Bay Sound Shell was built in 1960.
In 2015 the Riverton Aparima Community Board decided to demolish the Sound Shell after it had fallen into a state of disrepair and the estimated repair cost was between $250,000 and $300,000.
Events in the area have been scarce since.
At the same time as those fond memories were flooding back for McCabe, her fiancé suggested it would be cool to have blues and jazz themed housewarming party for his new house in Riverton.
“After that I took it to the next level, and here we are,” McCabe said.
“We want to bring back those family memories of the Sound Shell, and I think I’m speaking on behalf of all of the community in Riverton.”
On Saturday, February 22 the new Blues & Jazz By The Sea event will be held at Taramea Bay.
McCabe has gone about forming a committee of people with different skills and knowledge to put on the event.
It was initially scheduled to be held in March last year, although McCabe has discovered it is tougher to put on events in the current climate than it probably was when the carnival rolled into town in 1955.
Last year’s event was postponed on the back of delays around a resource consent for a toilet block in the area, as well as difficulties in attracting the required funding to help cover event costs.
“It was declined, declined, declined,” McCabe said about the funding issues.
“So, in 2024, we did it all again and managed to get 30 sponsors, and we got a little bit of funding for traffic management and bits and pieces.”
There has also been a good response to ticket sales this time around with organisers closing in on a sellout crowd of 1000 - the maximum they are now allowed in that area.
Organisers have tried to keep ticket costs as low as possible and initially wanted to make it free for kids to attend.
But to ensure the event does break even, the lowest they could go was $65 for adults and $20 for children under 18.
About 30 Riverton volunteers will be on hand on the day to help with the event, which has also kept event costs down.
“We are probably just going to break even. If we make any profit, it goes back into the community. Or we can use some of that money to do an event again.”
As for the future of the event beyond this year? McCabe isn’t 100% sure.
“I think we will do it again, but it probably won’t be until 2027. I’m getting married in 2026, so I’ve got a wedding to plan.”
McCabe has poured an estimated 1000 hours into putting the Blues & Jazz By The Sea event together, on top of her day job.
More committee members would probably be needed in future to ease the workload on everyone. But it was the cost of putting on such an event which provides the biggest challenge, she said.
There is also the logistics of running an event in 2025 to contend with.
“I think that’s why people probably haven’t been doing events because there is so much red tape to go through these days and it has been a struggle.
“But we’ve got there. The Southland District Council has backed us 100%, they have been really good.”
What to expect at Blues & Jazz By The Sea…
An all-star line-up of the most talented jazz and blues musicians in the southern region have been pulled together to entertain the crowd on February 22.
In a special touch the Riverton family blues band called MudCake - made up of Morgan Bickley (dad), and sons Liam Bickley (12) and Harlan Bickley (11) - will be the first act up on the day.
Other performers include Jackie Bristow - who is originally from Gore but now based in Nashville - Lachie Hayes, Ollie McLean, Robert Glen and The Meadow Sounds, The Diagonals, The Whirling Eddys, and Tahu and the Taxahe.
There will also be a special performance from the Creative Dance Studio.
MC for the day will be Craig Waddell - aka Wall - from The Hits.
There will be various food trucks on offer, although people abled to bring their own food and blankets for a picnic if they would like to. Another move to try to keep costs down for attendees.
However, drinks - both alcoholic and non-alcoholic - will be required to be purchased at the event.
It is a family friendly offering with face painting and bouncy castles for kids to enjoy.
Go Bus is running a bus from Invercargill and back. Those wanting to utilise that service will need to book in with Go Bus before the event.
Doors open at 11am with the first act scheduled for noon. It will wrap up at 7pm.
For more info head to the Blues and Jazz By The Sea website.
Well done Jamie and I hope not only the locals but all of the region support the great line-up you have been able to arrange. The red tape associated with events such as this provides such a challenge and in my view "over the top" and this makes organising just so difficult and costly these days! Best of luck.