Celebrate New Plymouth!

This cap may scream of early 1990s fashion but it also marks a much earlier date. The cap is covered with logo of the New Plymouth Sesquicentennial held in 1991 and it exhorts everyone to “CELEBRATE NEW PLYMOUTH 150 YEARS.” And celebrate many of them did. Led by New Plymouth Mayor David Lean and organised by various committees the town launched into hundreds of community events while the colourful swirling Sesqui logo was strung up on banners and flags around the town.

Based on the shape of Mount Taranaki, the logo was designed to “symbolise energy, fun and colour”. Originally designed by Janelle Betts, it was selected from over 200 submissions by Taranaki graphic artist John Ewbank. In a booklet commemorating New Plymouth’s big year Lean said “history and history makers will seek their own highlights from 1991 to focus on and draw attention to. This year long event has been bigger than that and proves what a community can achieve when it is proud enough to show that to the rest of the world.”