Hamilton City Council and Frankton businesses are teaming up on a campaign to ensure Frankton continues to be its usual hub of activity in the lead up to the 2009 Hamilton 400 V8 Supercars street race. Throughout the month of April over 100 businesses in Frankton will be offering Hamilton shoppers irresistible mega deals as part of Frankton's Mega Deal Month. Hamilton City Councillor Angela O'Lea... more...

Visitors will step back in time to the Italian Renaissance era when the Waikato Museum holds its Renaissance Fest of Leonardo this Friday [3 April] from 5pm-8pm. The festival will add another dimension to the international blockbuster 'Da Vinci Machines' exhibition that is currently on display at the Museum. Museum Director Kate Vusoniwailala said Renaissance Fest of Leonardo will be a unique op... more...

Hamilton’s Long-Term Council Community Plan for 2009-19 has been released for review, consultation and submission this week. Each council in New Zealand is required to produce a document which outlines its plans over a 10-year period. It examines proposed activities, their costs, how they will be paid for and how they benefit the community. The Plan is then re-examined every three years. The ove... more...

Hamilton residents are being encouraged to do their bit to support Earth Hour this Saturday [28 March] from 8.30-9.30pm as over 2000 cities prepare to take part in the global initiative. Hamilton Mayor Bob Simcock said that Earth Hour is a great for raising public awareness about environmental issues and despite Hamilton being relatively small on the world scale, the city is committed to doing it... more...

Hamilton City Council are seeking the owners of two horses handed over to Council's City Safe team after Police found them found wandering in a main Hamilton intersection early this morning. The horses are now being safely held in Council's animal holding facility until their owners can be located. Both horses are bay (dark brown) coloured standard bred geldings. The horses have a number of disti... more...

Crime, truancy and the environment will be the target for up to 2000 volunteers hitting the streets of Hamilton this weekend for the 2009 Working Bee. As part of Hamilton City Council’s community development work Council is again joining forces with the New Zealand Police and thousands of Mormon Helping Hands to address crime and truancy hotspots and build on environmental projects in the city. S... more...

Hamilton City Council is encouraging local food businesses to voluntarily implement Food Control Plans now to gain a 'competitive edge' before an upcoming law change. Already four local businesses have registered Plans – Domaine Restaurant on Victoria Street, Longview Taurima Hostel on Cameron Rd, Hamilton Cosmopolitan Club on Claudelands Rd and Shamiana Cuisines of India at Westfield Chartwell – ... more...

Hamilton Mayor Bob Simcock says the city's payment of $6 million into Hamilton Airport as a 50 per cent shareholder is part of supporting a critically important strategic asset. Mayor Simcock says while making the payment of previously uncalled capital is not ideal, it needs to be remembered the city has a $30 million investment for which it will have contributed $7.5 million following the $6 mil... more...

Lighting in Hood Street will be turned off for one hour on Saturday, 28 March to mark Earth Hour 2009. All street lighting and decorative lighting along the section of Hood Street from Victoria Street to Alexandra Street will be turned off from 8.30pm-9.30pm, during which time the public will be entertained by uni-cyclists, buskers and a fire performer. For safety reasons under-verandah lighting ... more...

The second phase of Hamilton's CityHeart project begins soon with construction along Victoria Street between Collingwood and Alma Streets. The revitalisation work requires the closure of the southbound traffic lane until the end of June. A detour will be in effect from 9am on Monday 23 March. During the week of the Hamilton 400 event, the road will be reopened for normal traffic flow from the eve... more...

Rugby New Zealand 2011 announced this afternoon that Hamilton will host three pool games for the Rugby World Cup 2011. Hamilton will host the All Blacks when they take on the winner of the Asia qualifier (likely to be Japan) on 16 September 2011, before hosting Wales twice – first when they go up against the winner of the Oceania qualifier (likely to be Samoa) on 18 September 2011, and then when ... more...

Keeping in touch with old school friends back in America has led to a visit to Hamilton by current space shuttle pilot Colonel Eric Boe. When Hamilton City Council employee Ree Varcoe found out through friends one of her old classmates had just flown a space shuttle mission as captain, the idea of bringing a real NASA astronaut to her sons' school had instant appeal. After some negotiation with ... more...

Amongst the 150 army personnel marching in this Saturday's Army Charter Parade through central Hamilton will be Hamilton City Council Community Development Unit Manager Olly Te Ua, who will be departing next month on a six-month deployment to Afghanistan. Mr Te Ua, who holds the rank of Major, has been an Army Reserve Officer for the past 15 years after originally joining as a Gunner with 4(G) Me... more...

The Da Vinci Machines, an international exhibition that has attracted record visitor numbers at all New Zealand venues in which it has been displayed, opens at Waikato Museum this Saturday [14 March]. The exhibition showcases 60 interactive machines based on the original drawings of Leonardo da Vinci and crafted by internationally acclaimed Florentine artisans Teknoart, including his flying mach... more...

Six armoured light operational vehicles, four Unimog trucks and 150 army personnel will make their way through central Hamilton as part of an Army Charter Parade this Saturday, 14 March. The Waikato Mounted Rifles and 11/4 Battery will be exercising their rights to parade with arms through Hamilton as outlined in their Freedom of the City Charters. The parade will also be an opportunity to renew ... more...

Following official due process, a series of four tree removals and four tree plantings will take place in Hinemoa Park from next week. The tree work was a recommendation which came out of last year's Independent Review of the Hamilton 400 and aims to improve visibility at critical areas on the circuit while ensuring the tree removal is mitigated with new plantings. A limited notified resource con... more...

The effectiveness of Hamilton Zoo’s emergency procedures was reinforced today when a chimpanzee gained access to a service area connected to the Chimpanzee enclosure. Luka, the youngest male chimp, accessed the service area at 10.40am while the Zoo’s chimpanzees were being contained in their internal enclosure. Zoo Keeper Catherine Nichols observed Luka in the service area [used only by staff and... more...

Hamilton City Libraries is looking for local musicians, bands and performers to showcase as part of its New Zealand Music Month celebrations 'Soundz Like Hamilton'. Taking place at Hamilton Central Library during the last two weeks of May, Soundz Like Hamilton aims to promote local talent while providing a wide variety of entertainment to caters to all tastes. Community Programmes Librarian Dawn... more...

Dinsdale Community Library will be closed for five days later this month while a new circulation counter is installed. The closure will run from Thursday, 19 March until Tuesday, 24 March, during which time local library users will be encouraged to access all services including circulation services, internet and Ticket Direct, from the five other branches of Hamilton City Libraries. Hamilton Cit... more...

The Frankton Community Liaison Group will be holding two open days this week for members of the Frankton residential, retail, commercial and business community. The forums are intended for sharing information for discussion of ideas around what it means to host the event in Frankton. The open days will take place at Agora Café, Kent Street, Frankton. Thursday, March 5th (4-7pm) Friday, March ... more...

Hamilton City Council has won silver at the national marketing awards for its strategic planning and vision around the development of the Hamilton brand. Hamilton City Council was the only local government finalist in the awards amongst some of the country's leading companies and brands. Companies such as TVNZ, Ezibuy, Progressive Enterprises and Foodstuffs were represented as finalists in the S... more...

Artist impression of The Verandah at Hamilton Lake Top city chefs Graham McFarlane and Bill MacDonald have signed to bring their culinary talents to The Verandah, Hamilton City Council's new event facility situated on the city's lakefront. Both chefs are international culinary judges and between them will they will bring over 50 years of professional culinary experience to developing ... more...