Growing up in Patea during the 1950s and 60s made for an ideal, never a dull moment childhood and safe, fun-filled days.
Laurie Hunt, 77, a Justice of the Peace now living in Marton, says it still makes him "terribly sad" when he drives through the once thriving town.
"There were no empty shops, everyone was working, business was booming. It was a great place."
He said Patea was the hub of South Taranaki, with everything from a huge menswear and womenswear emporium, a shop that dealt exclusively in fine china "the best there was", three big hotels and a movie theatre.
"A real beauty with raked wooden floors perfect for rolling Jaffas down."
Laurie remembered every Friday night everyone going into town.
"It was like a wonderful fair with the resident local pipe band or brass band playing in the main street. At Christmas, the band members would even dance in and out of the shops, it was like a big community party."
There must have been at least 4500 to 5000 people living there in those days, he said.
"There were the railway workers, the freezing works, coastal shipping and the cheese grading factory."
The Patea Freezing Company came into being in 1910. In 1933, a new Patea Freezing Company was formed.
"There were nearly 1000 workers during peak season. It was a huge employer in Patea."
But the company suffered badly during the downturn in the New Zealand meat-processing industry in the early 1980s.
"It was sad day when the Patea works were among to first to close down. I wasn't living there then but it really shut the town down. So many people were suddenly unemployed."
Laurie remembers working in the early years at the cheese grading store.
It was big business working with all the cheese from a massive catchment area, from north of Marton and the whole of South Taranaki.
"I remember the industry got so huge there were three coastal ships delivering the cheese. I remember watching them sailing in, loading up. They were busy, busy times."
Growing up in such a close-knit community stood him and brothers in great stead in our lives, he said.
"There were real values there and some marvellous people. It was a great place for us kids."
Laurie laughed when he said he was born at the Patea Hospital, which today is a crumbling and derelict wreck.
"It was such a good hospital, with a nurses home, operating theatres, midwives - sad it's all gone to waste."
Even national quiz shows came to Patea like Selwyn Toogood and It's In the Bag and the quiz radio king, John Maybury.
These days, Patea has a small population of about 1300 and the amenities that were once there are long gone, said Laurie.
"But really, that's a lot of regional towns these days ... sad but true."