Satirical Facebook page targets Katikati

This guy’s been in Katikati for a while, and reckons it’s pretty darn great. File photo.

Katikati is the latest Kiwi locale to be described as a ‘shit town' by the popular satirical Facebook page, ‘Shit Towns of New Zealand'.

The page has garnered criticism in the past from people who either can't take a joke, or don't recognise jokes when they encounter them.

'They say a picture is worth a thousand words,” begins the post.

'Unfortunately for Katikati, those thousand words are all ‘shit'. Katikati bills itself as New Zealand's ‘first open-air art gallery', a claim based on the sixty murals dotted around the town depicting events from its history. This would be a great idea if anything of interest had ever happened there, but given Katikati's long and boring history, most murals depict generic scenes of pioneers and livestock better suited to your grandma's placemats. It's not exactly an al fresco Louvre.

'If Katikati's murals weren't enough to get you screaming down State Highway 2, the town also boasts the Haiku Pathway, a collection of boulders inexplicably inscribed with traditional Japanese poetry.”

The post concludes with a contribution to the haiku pathway: 'I would rather die/Than spend a single second/In Katikati.”

As of Wednesday afternoon, the post had received more than 600 reactions and 28 shares on Facebook.

Katch Katikati promotions manager Jacqui Knight hasn't heard of the page, but says she understands the concept as she's from Palmerston North.

She suggests people come down to see the murals – which now number more than 70 – and haiku pathway for themselves.

'We also have the Katikati Avocado Food and Wine Festival coming up this summer. It's an afternoon of live music and food, including a performance by the ‘Flying Kiwis' – Jackie Clarke, Annie Crummer and Rikki Morris – and all for just $20.”

In October, the town hosted a competition to find the next additions to their mural collection, with the eventual winners being two modern designs based around the theme of ‘The Future of our Children'.

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