In close to a decade, Rebecca Larsen has had quite an impact on Te Puke.

Last week was Rebecca’s last as EPIC Te Puke marketing manager.

Community events, promotions, get-togethers and a significant online presence are the legacy of her time in the job.

Her first taste of Te Puke came after retailers got together and, with the support of Te Puke Community board, formed Shop Te Puke.

“This group of businesses wanted a focus on the promotion of the downtown area for those who might be affected by the Tauranga Eastern Link (TEL) [taking traffic, and customers, away from the town],” she said.

Having recently returned from Canada and with two young children, the 10 hours per week contract was very attractive.

In the early days she was finding her feet and trying to come up with initiatives to lift the perceptions of the town centre and create ways to bring people into town.

“I did a bit of my own research in interviewing people in the street and interviewing businesses to try and get a feel of the audience market.”

The birth of EPIC

Te Puke Lions had always run the Te Puke Christmas Parade and, when the club folded, an opportunity arose to step in with help from former club members.

“There was a meeting with the board at the time and a strategy and brainstorming session to rebrand and rename.”

That’s when the EPIC acronym was born – Events, Promotions, Igniting Community.

“At that point, our contract with council grew and we had to do four events a year.”

The float parade was one, and the other three ended up being a relaunch of one of the town’s Kiwifruit festival favourites, the Great Comedy Debate, an Easter trail and a Treat Trail to coincide with Halloween.

“I loved the Halloween experience from Canada and had this idea to have this treat trail involving decorating businesses and handing out lollies,” said Larsen.

“It was unexpectedly massive.”

It has run every year since.

“We did bring people into town and got people talking. And it became not just about the event itself, but the people who go – they are the stars because everybody had such amazing costumes."

The Easter trail began as a similar walk around town but has morphed into an art-based event with the Te Ara Kahikatea Pathway transformed into a gallery and an Easter event in Jubilee Park.

“Those things are where my heart lies the most - creating memories with the events for kids and their families.”

Te Puke Online

Less obvious has been Larsen’s work in the digital space – and the launch of Te Puke Online.

A report prepared by Rose-Anna Feist was a major catalyst.

“She conducted a very thorough strategic review for us, interviewing local business and the general public about all our activity and it highlighted a few gaps.”

Larsen was working solo at the time.

“We didn’t have very good systems in place, I didn’t have an office, didn’t have a filing area. She recommended we needed better customer relations management, a decent directory website where people could put profiles, and an events calendar.”

At a community meeting, the idea of a town events calendar had also been raised.

Whakatāne town’s website seemed to have all the bells and whistles Larsen was looking for, so she contacted its developers who agreed to come on board.

“I had to work really hard to get that across the line – I had to fundraise for it, find sponsorship, find grant money, but once we got it, we were good to go.”

Business growth

At the time EPIC membership was possibly fewer than 20 businesses.

Now, on Te Puke Online, there are 250 profiles and, while not all are businesses, it is an indication of the value of the website, Larsen said.

“From that we had an excellent tool for promoting not just our own events and promotions, but everybody’s.

“It was a massive project … huge, but beneficial because now it’s a lot easier to communicate.”

During Larsen’s time, the organisation has grown to a point where it employs two other part-time staff members.

She has also overseen the introduction of EPIC dollars – vouchers with a dollar value that can only be used in Te Puke ensuring promotion prizes stay in the community – an annual town summit, an annual town clean up, night markets and work opportunities for Te Puke High School student.

“The relationship with the high school is awesome and because of it we’ve been able to have a student in the office one morning a week.”

Students have focused on writing stories and producing videos, social media posts and a blog acknowledging the contributions people make to Te Puke.

“It gave students the opportunity to learn using real tools, and it grew a portfolio of beautiful stories.”

Innovation and creativity

Former EPIC Te Puke chairwoman Sue Peat, who stood down in 2020, was on the initial promotions group that hired Rebecca.

She said what Larsen has achieved has been phenomenal

“[She’s] very, very artistic and a fabulous marketer and that’s been her strength right the way through. She’s been able to market things to the wider community and come up with the ideas that were right outside the square,” said Peat.

“That’s what we needed.”

Larsen was also innovative.

“We went and found the resources for her and let her carry out her dreams.”

Current chairman Antoine Pol-Simon said Larsen’s creativity was outstanding.

“To me she was great – creating new ideas … and her dedication to it – she spent a lot of time on things. What she did was amazing.”

Te Puke EDG managing director Mark Boyle said in the time Larsen has been with EPIC, there has been a noticeable consistency in the delivery of events for Te Puke.

“They have been very well received and had a high level of participation and were generally a positive for Te Puke, particularly for the town centre.”