The Country 11/09/24: Peter Nation talks to Jamie Mackay

After nearly 30 years of involvement, the chief executive is stepping down from the helm of the New Zealand National Fieldays Society - the owner and operator of the 114 hectares of Mystery Creek Events Centre and the Fieldays event. He finishes up on December 20 this year.

 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Peter nation is, but not for much longer. The chief
executive of Field Days nearly thirty years association with our
biggest farming event at Mystery Creek. Peter, did you jump
or were you pushed? Or did you just decide you've
had enough and you want to lead the good life?

Speaker 2 (00:18):
My friend, Good afternoon, Jamie. I was not pushing.

Speaker 1 (00:22):
No, I know that I'm just being cheating.

Speaker 2 (00:24):
I didn't jump. I'm not pregnant, I'm not sick. I've
had a few emails to that effect. People love to speculate.
I think, you know, intro thirty years, nine years as
chief executive, twelve years on the board, I think I've
done a bit and I think, you know, one of
the things almost proudest, I was growing the event to

(00:45):
what it is, on top of you know, the people
before me, navigating our way through COVID. The events industry
is you know, really hard during that period, I can
tell you, and leaving on a high, and I've got
lots that I and reflect on and be proud of.
I think.

Speaker 1 (01:02):
Plus, you've got a wonderful little lifestyle hobby not a
mile away from the Field Days. You'll pot around on that.
Your wife's a good earner. You're living You're living the dream, Peter.

Speaker 2 (01:13):
Yeah. I don't know whether Elie agrees with that, Jamie,
but anyway, we've still had that conversation. But we've done
this together. I'll pop up somewhere else, but I've actually
got nothing to go to, and I'm just going to
smell the roses for a while and enjoy and reflect
on what I've done, and then probably go and annoy
someone like you again.

Speaker 1 (01:32):
Oh well, that'll be good. I'll look forward to being
annoyed by you. Your first contact with field Days was
with was when you were I think the regional manager
for A and Z Rural. So you know, thirty years
is a long time, mind you. I've been sitting in
this chair for that amount of time as well. I think, jeez,
I'm just getting all these daily cues. Maybe it's time
for me to go.

Speaker 2 (01:53):
Yeah. I think we've all got to think about it
at one stage or another. And yeah, So back in
the day, was the major sponsor of Field Days and
I happened to be their banker, so I helped finance
a few seats here and then for some reason, only
nine ted they made me the sponsor representative for this place,
and so it's one of those things that gets under

(02:16):
your skin, Jamie. And then I ended up being asked
by some wise old ols around the board to join
the board, and so I did twelve years there, right
through the vice president. Again it kept getting out of
the skin. And then when the opportunity counts, see, I thought,
actually I can make a difference here, and I applied
with sixty six other people and nine years later of

(02:38):
time sign off.

Speaker 1 (02:39):
I reckon, Hey, I just got a text them from
your old mate Graham Smith, who was on the board.
A mystery creaky said made. He said, Peter, I've got
have I got a deal for you, a great little business.
Looks like he wants to retire. What do you like
at drug detection work?

Speaker 2 (02:53):
Yeah no, this isn't Papers of A's Rock Times. Yeah no, no,
I'm sorry, Smither. You can keep your drug detection piece.
You're doing a great job too.

Speaker 1 (03:04):
On my head, absolutely, Hey, listen, it's been great dealing
with you over the years. Look, I admire you because,
especially in the lead into field days, it's a very
very stressful time. You've got all sorts of things that
conspire against you, but you've always kept a good sense
of humor, and we've poked a bit of borax in
your direction and you likewise over the years and it's

(03:25):
just been great and a wonderful association. So you enjoy
your semi retirement, pottering around on the farm, the lifestyle,
the life sentence block and being a kept man. Peter Nation,
well

Speaker 2 (03:36):
Done, Thank you very much, Jamie Yep, I've enjoyed your association.