You can tell when summer is on the way – flowers bloom, lambs frolic in the fields, and tickets go on sale for the
Big Day Out and WOMAD.
The Big Day Out looks like being a blast as usual, especially with a hoary old rocker like Neil Young at the top of the bill.
Neil is of course of bus pass age now and many people I know are bemoaning the fact that the Big Day Out will be their only chance to hear him. It's been some decades since he was here last and it seems a shame that many who dig his overdriven hippy country rock will be only able to catch him amongst dozens of other bands in the usual crazy Big Day Out scrum.

Mind you, others will be chuffed at the opportunity to see him alongside the likes of Arctic Monkeys, Prodigy, My Morning Jacket, but it's kinda depressing to see that he's playing a full eight gigs across the Tasman (where he toured as recently as 2003).
Meanwhile, WOMAD Early Bird tickets have gone on sale but no one is breathing a word about who'll actually be at the festival. Last year there was a real buzz on by this time when it was leaked that the headline act would be one of the world's greatest soul singers. Mavis Staples duly arrived and was absolutely sensational.
This year, however, I've heard no word on what's coming, but the festival is running from 13 to 15 March and the discounted Early Bird tickets ($179 for a three-day pass) are on sale now from Ticketek.
And, looking at WOMAD, it's hard not to be impressed by the folks in charge down in Taranaki, and New Plymouth in particular. As well as offering incentives to draw the likes of big film productions to the area they have put a priority on encouraging all events, whether it be their Arts Festival, the TSB Festival of Lights (an annual series of music events over Summer), WOMAD or the various big acts that they have attracted to the Bowl of Brooklands.
It's also hard not to make comparisons with Tauranga, especially when this happens to be the week council has signalled it will be cutting back on funding for the City's Flagship Events.
And while I'm aware that these are tough economic times, and that the council now seems dominated by people who regard culture with the same critical appreciation that Rob Muldoon did, it still seems like an astonishingly short-sighted move, even for the recently-elected bunch of self-identifying philistines.
Of course this isn't about culture. Two of the events about to lose some of their funding is the Surf Lifesaving Championships and the Half Iron Man. What it is about is money.
And this is where I can't understand council thinking. These Flagship Events (and there are only half a dozen of them, others being the Garden and Arts Festival, the Arts Festival and the Jazz Festival) were given that name because they make a significant contribution to the community, not just in making life a bit more fun and the Bay a better place to be, but also in bringing money to Tauranga.
The Jazz Festival is – as far as I'm aware – the only event that has commissioned a full economic impact study, which showed that the festival is bringing something like $4 million to the Bay each Easter. And, despite the occasional short-sighted letter to the paper complaining that all the dosh goes to retailers on the Strand, the truth is that this money flows all the way through the local economy.
As it happens, the Jazz Festival will not be losing any funding this year but all the other events will. What a sad approach to economic management. When a relatively small injection of cash ($15,000 for the Surf Lifesavers) will help bring about events that do so much to stimulate the local economy, why would you risk ruining those events?
We're not even talking a huge amount of money – this is something less than $100,00 a year, all-up for all the events. Think of the money these events bring to the Bay in return for that meagre investment. And think who could lose out: retailers, restaurants, motels, everybody who works for related businesses, and pretty much anybody else who values the Bay as a vibrant place to live.
watusi@thesun.co.nz