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Big Lemon & Paeroa bottle
Big Lemon & Paeroa bottle
Year	1969
Dimensions	6.8 m × 1.3 m (270 in × 51 in)
Location	Paeroa, New Zealand
	37°22′59.4″S 175°40′27.6″E / 37.383167°S 175.674333°E

The Big Lemon & Paeroa Bottle is a statue of a bottle of the Lemon & Paeroa soft drink. It is located in Paeroa, New Zealand, where the drink was originally made. It is one of New Zealand's most famous icons, making it one of the most photographed places in the country.^[1] It has a height of 6.8 metres (22 ft), a diameter of 1.3 metres (4.3 ft), is made from concrete rings, and is surrounded by lemon trees and lemon shaped rubbish bins in a park around the statue.^[1]^[2]^[3] It is a popular tourist site,^[4] and the statue is owned by the council, but the branding and maintenance of the bottle is done by Coca-Cola Europacific Partners.^[5]

The statue made an appearance in a Lemon & Paeroa television advertisement in the 1990s. It has also featured in a postage stamp in 1998 as part of a series of town icons, including other big things in New Zealand such as Napier's Pania, the giant carrot of Ohakune, and the shearer statue of Te Kūiti.^[3] It is commonly known by locals as the Lemon & Paeroa bottle rather than the L&P, a name more common throughout the country.^[6] It is not to be confused with a smaller, 5.8-metre (19 ft) tall, Lemon & Paeroa statue at the L&P Café, which was opened in December 2000.^[3]^[7]

History

The statue began as a replica space rocket in 1967 for Paeroa's Christmas promotion, which was inspired by Moon landings of the same year.^{[clarification needed (a Surveyor mission?)]} It had the motto "Paeroa rockets into Christmas".^[5]^[8] It was made with three concrete troughs, a cone on the top, and three fins on the bottom. The statue had room in the middle for an "announcer's box" for reading out daily Christmas specials.^[3] It was 6 metres (20 ft) high and had a diameter of 1.3 metres (4.3 ft). Its materials were used to build the Lemon & Paeroa bottle in Christmas of 1968 by the owners of the Paeroa spring at the time. The statue was later dismantled after the end of the holiday season because it became a traffic hazard.^[5]^[9]^[4] However, one of the builders of the bottle has claimed that the Lemon & Paeroa statue did not start out as a rocket.^[10] It was later placed again in 1969 in its original location and made permanent by Schweppes, who owned the beverage brand at the time.^[3] In the 1990s the statue featured in an L&P television advertisement with the song "Counting the Beat" from the Swingers.^[11] On 12 November 2002, the statue was moved from State Highway 2 to its current position in the Ohinemuri Reserve;^[5]^[12] about 100 residents watched the move, and it took 40 minutes.^[12] A park was later built by the council around the statue.^[13] In 2018, when the bottle's fiftieth birthday was celebrated, a yellow bow was placed on the statue.^[7] In 2020 there were proposals to move the statue closer to the centre of town.^[14]

In 2013, after Lemon & Paeroa partnered with Whittaker's to make an L&P chocolate, a Whittaker's delivery van was placed next to the statue to make it appear as if the van had crashed into it.^[15] Chief executive of the council, Langley Cavers, ordered that Whittaker's pay for damage of the crash. It was reported that the mayor and council knew about the campaign and were told by Whittaker's to "play dumb".^[16]

In 2023, the statue was painted white so that it could be repainted after weathering, and have a graffiti guard.^[5]

References

^ ^a ^b "Ohinemuri - The L and P Story". www.ohinemuri.org.nz. September 2001. Archived from the original on 18 September 2023. Retrieved 11 September 2023.
^ Wade, Pamela (12 March 2022). "World Famous in New Zealand: Paeroa's giant L&P bottle is an irresistible selfie-magnet". Stuff. Archived from the original on 9 September 2023. Retrieved 8 September 2023.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Rothwell, Kimberley (30 December 2004). "Message in a bottle". The Dominion Post. p. C3. Archived from the original on 10 October 2023. Retrieved 18 September 2023 – via New Zealand National Library.
^ ^a ^b "Paeroa: L&P bottle, 2010 (3rd of 3)". Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand. Archived from the original on 8 September 2023. Retrieved 10 September 2023.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Birchall, Jim (18 May 2023). "Paeroa's famous L&P bottle whitewashed in anticipation of a spruce-up". The New Zealand Herald. Archived from the original on 8 September 2023. Retrieved 8 September 2023.
^ JAKE, M. C. (2018). L&P? We’re from Paeroa thanks. Waikato Times, 2.
^ ^a ^b "Paeroa's giant L&P bottle reaches big milestone". NZ Herald. 9 September 2023. Archived from the original on 9 September 2023. Retrieved 8 September 2023.
^ "Paeroa: space rocket, 1967 (1st of 3)". Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand. Archived from the original on 8 September 2023. Retrieved 10 September 2023.
^ "Paeroa: L&P bottle, 1968 (2nd of 3)". Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand. Archived from the original on 8 September 2023. Retrieved 8 September 2023.
^ "Record set straight on the true history of Paeroa's L&P bottle". NZ Herald. 9 September 2023. Archived from the original on 9 September 2023. Retrieved 8 September 2023.
^ "LEMON & PAEROA SOFT DRINK. WORLD FAMOUS IN NEW ZEALAND". www.ngataonga.org.nz. Retrieved 16 December 2023.
^ ^a ^b VOS, Inger (13 November 2002). "...and not a drop was spilt". Waikato Times.
^ "Paeroa: Best little town in the middle of everywhere". Whanganui Chronicle. 26 September 2023. Archived from the original on 26 September 2023. Retrieved 26 September 2023.
^ Smith, Alison (24 June 2020). "Paeroa's giant L&P Bottle on the move". The New Zealand Herald. Archived from the original on 9 September 2023. Retrieved 8 September 2023.
^ "Whittaker's and L&P to launch a classic Kiwi combo". www.scoop.co.nz. 15 July 2013. Archived from the original on 23 January 2021. Retrieved 11 September 2023.
^ "Mayor in on PR stunt fizzer". NZ Herald. 11 September 2023. Archived from the original on 18 September 2023. Retrieved 11 September 2023.