Struggling with pulling trucks out of the mud on a wet, stormy day and spending hours on the road is all part of the fun for Gavin Mackenzie, who has been a part of the exotic tapestry that is The Original Gypsy Fair, for over two decades now.
"You have your ups and your downs when you're out on the road, but I wouldn't have it any other way," he laughs.
The Original Gypsy Fair originally began around the time that the famed "Nambassa Winter Event" took place between 1976 and 1981 on n large farms around Waihi and Waikino. The fair was an off-shoot from the events that took place around the festival and began with just a small group of people holding the odd market around the North Island. From there it quickly grew to become a fixture across the island.
By 1991, Jill and Rob Romain organised for traders to get together and sell their wares whilst showing off their amazing homes, which ranged from the original gypsy caravan, through to converted trucks. Six years later, the fair had expanded to the South Island and the participants now travel across both islands.
The fair, which is in its 27th year in its current format, has been run by Jim "Chappie" Banks and his wife, Venus, since 2001 and continues to be a hit with New Zealanders country-wide.
While the convoy travels all over the country; new towns have been added to the itinerary throughout the fair's history, with Pukekohe being added to the list over 20 years ago. "We really enjoy going to the reasonably size towns like Pukekohe because we get such a great turn out from the locals," says Gavin."You don't get that in the bigger cities because this kind of thing is just a drop in the bucket for them really."
Gavin began travelling with the fair in 1995 in an Isuzu Elf camper and has now been travelling for 22 seasons. He was originally a sergeant in the Royal New Zealand Air Force, where he worked for 21 years and once he retired, he began getting involved in craft markets with his wife. "We quickly fell into the fair and for five years we commuted back and forth from our home but by 2001, I was made redundant which helped us make the decision to start travelling with the fair full time. We are like a big family really."
While it sounds like an idyllic lifestyle, there is still a lot of red tape to get through and all the normal parts of organising an event have to be adhered to - these include dealing with council by-laws, marketing the event, handling money and organising large groups of people on a regular basis.
The fair is very focussed on selling hand-crafted products that are made in New Zealand and as sustainable as possible. It is also important that there are no double ups in terms of what is being sold. "This is so that everyone has a fair chance to sell their own unique products," says Gavin. When they're not travelling through the country, the village members are welcome to do their own thing and just turn up to the fair every Friday to show their wares.
Alongside hand-made jewellery, clothing, art work, decorations and eye-catching keepsakes, there is also a wide range of entertainment including bouncy castles for the children, live music, tarot card reading and food caravans which sell a variety of delicious meals.
Gavin says that the sort of people who travel with the Original Gypsy Fair can vary but usually consist of those who have earned a living, had their children and are ready to retire on the road. "The average age is in the late 40s and we also have a couple of young families. It is a great way to live and it means you have less possessions to worry about and what you earn during the week gets you to the next town, to start all over again."
The caravans and trucks that get each participant from A to B can range dramatically, however Gavin says that most of them have been stripped out and rebuilt to be fitted into a home. "They are all grown-up playhouses really, you get what you put in. Nowadays we have to make sure that when we build them they meet the rules and regulations, but it's still a lot of fun to build them."
Since the 1980s, the life of a travelling gypsy has changed a lot - from communicating via a magazine, where you wouldn't get a reply until it had been printed, through to most travellers owning a mobile phone, the Gypsy Fair has definitely become more modernised than it originally was, however the participants are passionate about keeping the organic feel that has kept it so popular for so many years.
