Event of the Year award winner - Devonport PARK(ing) Day Event of the Year award winner - Devonport PARK(ing) Day

Devonport PARK(ing) Day is the winner of the Event of the Year award from the Travelwise Choices Awards 2020.

Organisers of the Devonport PARK(ing) Day accepting the award

Ken Davis (right) and Shaulyn van Baaren (right) accepting the Event of the Year award.

If you live in Devonport, you've probably now heard of International PARK(ing) Day. The recipient of this year's Community Event of the Year award put Devonport on the map and helped local businesses in the process. A local architect helped orchestrate Park(ing) Day in Devonport not just one year, but two.

Local architect Ken Davis helped Devonport put on their own International Park(ing) Day in 2018 and 2019, and in turn helped the event to become this year's winner of the Community Event of the Year Award.

It all started in 2018 with the New Zealand Institute of Architects Festival. International PARK(ing) Day was set to be part of the showcase to show members of the public that Devonport was a sustainable and innovative destination, one that would hopefully attract more economic growth.

What better way to show this than by getting a group of local businesses together to playfully re-imagine car park spaces. Around 26 carparks where taken over in the town centre. They featured outdoor gyms, art spaces, spaces for children, crushed motorcars and a heritage installation.

The event was so good that they saw a spike of 8% in sales that day so decided to do it all again in 2019. Kirsten Newton from The Random Flock along with Davis, lead the 2019 event for the Devonport Business Association.

The day was a huge success with over 20 local businesses and organisations participating and creating more unique and amazing parklets.

Both events created more exposure, more business for Devonport and more smiles, so it's no wonder it's the winner of the 2020 Community Event of the Year award.

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