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Palmerston North has a “kind of goldilocks” thing going for it, one of its defenders has said in response to a report that Spain’s women’s football team left the city because it was boring.
But former Labour politician Iain Lees-Galloway was more than happy to admit it was more great place, and less tourist destination. Leave tourism to Queenstown, he said, and be proud of what Palmerston North was good at.
“There’s a real kind of goldilocks thing going on currently, we’re just the right size where you get all the benefits of being a city, but you get that really cool community vibe as well, ” Lees-Galloway said.
He decried the boring tag. The city had many good bars, cafes, restaurants and activities for children, he said.
The city received high profile support on Monday with Prime Minister Chris Hipkins chiming in to defend the city popularly known as ‘Palmy’.
Hipkins said it was a great place.
”Palmerston North is a great city. I know a lot of people that live in Palmerston North, they really enjoy living there,” he said.
The story broke via ESPN reporter, Samuel Marsden, who later said he may have caused an “international incident” when he claimed “reliable sources” said Spain had moved their FIFA Women’s World Cup base to Wellington because Palmerston North was too boring.
In a later twitter post he admitted that wasn’t the official line.
Spain’s coach, Jorge Vilda, confirmed that, hitting back at the reporters’ claims on Sunday, saying Palmerston North had “treated us as a real family and I believe it was an excellent situation to give our best”. The official line was that Spain’s move to a training base in Wellington was due to tournament logistics.
But the damage was done and locals have reacted to the initial report which said the city lacked things to do for the players and their families.
Lees-Galloway said he had lived in the city for 25 years and “seen a lot of changes”.
”It’s become a much more vibrant, more cosmopolitan place than a lot of people probably expect it to be.”
Palmerston North offers a “wonderful lifestyle” for people who want to live here, a destination for conferences and events, and top of the class sports facilities that hold a lot of secondary school tournaments, he said.
“What do you need out of a place to live? You want a place you can afford a nice home, you want a good job, you want your kids to go to great schools, you don’t want to spend your life in traffic.”
Warwick Smith/Stuff
FIFA Women’s World Cup team, Spain, called Palmerston North boring, according to an ESPN report. (File photo).
More FM morning host, Mike West agreed with Lees-Galloway.
“One word you could use to describe Palmy is homely. It’s a lovely, homely place … It might not have all the warm sunshine hours, but it’s got a nice warm vibe to it,” West said.
West grew up in Palmerston North, his family grew up there, and he said he got angry when he heard people “bagging” the town because they did not know all the place had to offer.
“The city’s business side is booming. We’re expanding all over the place, we’re winning all kinds of awards and things, we’ve been going strong for quite some time.”
West said it had been a long time since Palmerston North had been called “boring”, in an acknowledgement that it had attracted that tag in the past.
TOURISM MANAWATU
A Manawatū marketing video aims to entice visitors to the region.
Interestingly, Palmerston North was the sixth ranked tourism destination in New Zealand in terms of visitors, the Central Economic Development Agency (CEDA) CEO Jerry Shearman said.
Shearman would wager a bet that many people who call Palmerston North boring have not been to the town.
“We’d love people to come and visit the city, and you know, have a really good look around,” he said.
A recent destination management plan had identified the town had 172 cafés, restaurants and eateries, with four of them listed in the New Zealand Restaurant of the Year award shortlist, Shearman said.
Palmerston North was a “fantastic” place to live, Shearman said, and with all the attention around the town over the weekend their manawatūnz.co.nz webpage activity went up by 83% compared to this time last year and compared to the previous weekend.
Shearman said the webpage activity showed people were trying to source their own “evidence and make up their own minds about what this beautiful region has to offer”.
Palmerston North mayor, Grant Smith, told Stuff he hoped the team would return to see the “true highlights” of the Manawatū, even offering a free night on the town.
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