Painting the Rainbow

As Wellington City gets set to welcome visitors and locals to the Wellington Pride Festival I Tū Whakahīhī e Te Whanganui-ā-Tara on 8 March, a special piece of art work has been crafted at the Airport.

The Citycare Property team were approached by their client, Wellington Airport, to see if they could paint a giant Pride Rainbow on the Northern embankment of the runway to mark the start of the Festival and to coincide with the Il-GA World Conference being held in Wellington from 18-22 March.

"The team at Citycare is very used to completing line marking on sports fields, but I think this is the first time we have painted a rainbow on the end of an airport runway. It’s certainly not a standard part of our day-to-day activities and we’re all really pleased with the end result,” said Alex Hampshire – Regional Manager Central for Citycare Property.

“It's a great way for the Airport to welcome people to the city for the festival and conference.”

The 250m x 15m rainbow has been painted in traditional Gay Pride colours using line marking paint that will last at least a few weeks before growing out or washing off. Anyone flying in to the city or driving past the airport will be unable to miss the temporary landmark.

The Pride Rainbow took three days to complete and was part of a TVNZ Breakfast show segment with the Mayor of Wellington City, Justin Lester, and representatives from the Festival and the Wellington International Airport in attendance.

"The team at Citycare did a great job in completing the Pride Rainbow on the end of the runway. We had been talking to them about our vision for a few weeks and it was great to see it come to life," said Matthew Palliser – Head of Operations at Wellington International Airport.