If you’re flying with Air New Zealand this month, make sure you read the Kia Ora magazine tucked into the seat pocket in front of you – you’ll find Ashburton’s big Glow in the Park event on one of the pages.

It’s great to see Glow getting a mention outside our district, as it is a major event that last year bought 40,000 visitors to our town, and it’s free.

We know that about half of our Glow visitors came from outside the district, mostly from Selwyn, Christchurch or Timaru, and it’s a light show that changes each year so there’s always something new to see and experience.

This year is no different and the Ashburton Domain will be the place to be over King’s Birthday weekend. It couldn’t happen without our sponsors, including EA Networks, and a lot of hard work by Council’s event team, so thank you to all for putting us on the map.

Our new library and civic building, Te Whare Whakatere, was also in the news this month after being awarded a public architecture award at the 2025 Canterbury Architecture Awards.

The citation described the building as a benchmark for contemporary civic architecture, uniting cultural expression, functional excellence and sustainability. That is architect speak for a building that represents our past and provides great, flexible spaces for our current and future work with the community.

I’m pleased that Athfield Architects has been acknowledged for their skill and effort in creating something physical from all the things the community told them were important to our district.

The library has become a meeting place for all manner of community groups and it’s great to see so many people, of all ages, coming together in this space.

It is also used by many agencies, who book space to have conversations with the community – the Electoral Commission is coming next Thursday on 29 May to talk about the importance of enrolling or updating your details so you can vote in the Local Elections later this year. The elections are held by postal vote in October, but nominations don’t open until July.

A new crop of Ashburton councillors will be elected then and be responsible for decisions about the district’s roads, three waters operations and community services.