New seats for the Plaza

The district's premier performing arts theatre, the Plaza in Putaruru, now boasts 134 new seats.

The seats cost just under $50,000 and forms part of the Plaza upgrade programme.

The old seats were put on facebook to see if there was any interest from the community in owning a piece of Plaza history," said Plaza Manager Nicola Warrington. "Eleven local people showed interest and between them 114 of the old seats were sold!"

"The majority of the purchases wanted the seats for nostalgic reasons and a place to sit while having a beer in the shed," continued Mrs Warrington. "Patrons to Steinie's Barber Shop in Putaruru can enjoy a piece of this history too when they visit for a haircut, since Steinie's now sports nine of the old chairs."

The money raised will go towards purchasing paint and other materials to redecorate the Arthur Fountain Studio dressing rooms at the rear of the Plaza. A plaque with the purchasers' names will be displayed as an acknowledgement.

"There are 186 old seats that still need replacement and this project will be funded and programmed in due course," said Greg Shaw, Council's Parks and Property Manager. "Seating Services took just on 10 hours to replace all the 134 new seats."

"The new seats are fantastic," said Mrs Warrington. "We have had very positive feedback; although it was also sad to see the old seats go. They were part of the original building, so going back to 1959 is some history!"

The Plaza has undergone several refurbishments over the years.

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