A community mission in Ngāruawāhia

04 Nov 2025

As with many communities around New Zealand, Ngāruawāhia, a town in the Waikato region, is on a mission to rid it’s beauty surroundings of tagging and graffiti. One particular group, who have named themselves the Ngaruawahia Tag Smashers, are making it their mission to keep their town beautiful, and with the help of donated Resene paints, they are tackling graffiti, “bit by bit”.

“On the weekend of the 27th September we gathered our team and attacked the graffiti on Martin Street Ngaruawahia,” says Meg from Ngaruawahia Tag Smashers. “We had seven Tag Smasher volunteers and this was our second outing, but this time we had 20 litres of recycled grey paint from Resene and six sets of donated rollers, trays and brushes.”

Community support was evident, with volunteers as well as local shops letting the group plug in their hose and water blasters to begin the cleanup on nearby walls. “Chris blasted the traffic grime and gunk off the three big roller doors of the bakery, which had recently been badly graffitied because the owner had gone away for a month,” says Meg. The doors were left down by the owner who had stuck a notice up saying so, which as a result, the local culprits took that as permission to use the doors as a canvas for their ‘art’.

“Once the doors were dry, [group members including] 81-year-old Lola and 20-year-old Somaia and Chris got painting and in no time at all the doors looked amazing and the grey paint was the perfect colour,” says Meg. “Young and old connected on a mission, it was perfect.

“And elsewhere down Martin Street, 88-year-old Anne and middled aged, Tira, Meg and Greg, tackled what was once Bullian’s Bakery, a 120-year-old brick built Bread Factory that closed down many years ago. That job took a long time with the grey paint as we had to painstakingly paint the mortar between the bricks but it did look great afterwards.

“There are many more roller doors to go but we are eating the elephant one bite at a time.”

Ngaruawahia Tag Smashers seems to be on a mission. “Once we have the worst of the big walls cleaned and painted, the local art studio will take on the task of designing and painting murals for those walls,” says Meg.

“The best result is that since we have painted over these various buildings, nothing has been touched and if it is, we will be out the next day to paint it over it. The community now report any new graffiti on the Facebook page and we try to respond quickly.

The group gave 10 litres of their donated Resene paint each to a local dairy owner and to a volunteer who wanted to tackle defacement to a kindergarten, both of who used this to cover the tagging.

Tag Smashers were just approved for funding by their Community Board for funding for a paint sprayer too, which can be used for large and high walls. It’s great to see their efforts being recognised and rewarded. “It’s been such a great journey and a good vibe for us as Tag Smashers and Ngaruawahia as a whole,” Meg says.

Read more about Dealing with Graffiti, and if you’re planning to paint your home or project that’s has a more public façade or access, check out the Resene anti-graffiti coatings range. Head to your local Resene ColorShop for more advice if you’re unsure.

Published: 04 Nov 2025