The Americarna Stratford never had? | Taranaki News | Local News in Taranaki

STRATFORD came alive last Friday lunchtime as hundreds of American cars draped in Stars and Stripes drove through the town.
Hundreds of locals from shop owners and customers, through to students of St Josephs and Stratford Primary cheered the cars as they paraded through town.
Rumours drifted through town in the early morning that the drivers had received instructions to boycott Stratford and travel to Kaponga via Monmouth and Cardiff Roads, most however, seemed to have decided that they wanted to put on a show for the residents of Stratford District and drove through town.
Unfortunately, most of the cars didn’t stop as an agreement could not be reached between the Americarna organizers and Stratford Business Association that would have allowed Broadway to be closed.
Stratford Business Association Chairman John Sandford said “a perfectly reasonable alternative was offered to the organizers of Americarna that would have seen the cars parked in Miranda and Portia Streets, which would have saved the association and the Stratford community $7000 (the cost of closing Broadway, a state highway). However, John Rae deemed that alternative not appropriate.”
“It’s a real shame that Americarna couldn’t understand the cost implications of closing Broadway and that we simply couldn’t afford it, but I’m happy that we seemed to have managed to have Americarna anyway,” John said.