Over the past few months, the GoCarterton team has been working behind the scenes on a refreshed direction for our website and digital presence.
As conversations continued between committee members, local businesses and contributors, one thing became increasingly clear: GoCarterton works best when it focuses on what matters most — supporting and promoting Carterton businesses and the people behind them.
The previous website carried a wide mix of information, including visitor content, events, local promotion and business listings. While that approach served a purpose over time, it also created confusion about what GoCarterton itself represents and where its primary focus should sit.
The new site is being shaped with a clearer purpose in mind: creating a practical, community-driven platform that helps local businesses become more visible, more connected and better represented online.
That shift has influenced everything from the site structure through to the new logo, recently developed by local designer and GoCarterton committee member Peter Veltkamp. The logo process itself reflected the collaborative spirit behind the project — practical conversations, experimentation, refinement, and a shared desire to create something that genuinely represents Carterton’s business community.
One of the biggest additions to the new site will be the expansion of our Business Stories initiative. Through interviews recorded with Arrow FM, GoCarterton is beginning to document and share the stories behind local businesses — how they started, the people behind them, the challenges they’ve faced, and what makes running a business in Carterton unique.
These stories are profiles that help build connections, preserve local business history, and recognise the people who contribute to the town every day.
Alongside this, the business directory itself is being rebuilt to make it more useful, more searchable and easier for businesses to keep current over time. The goal is not simply to create another directory, but to build a platform that feels active, local and genuinely representative of the Carterton business community.
There is still work to do. As with any evolving community project, the site will continue to grow as more businesses, stories and events are added over the coming months.
For now, this marks the beginning of a new stage for GoCarterton — one focused on visibility, participation, collaboration and supporting the businesses that help Carterton thrive.
We look forward to sharing more soon.
