In June 2005, Drakenstein Municipality’s deputy mayor Anthea Sheldon informed the Association that they could no longer make use of the municipal facilities, thereby ending a 30 year public/private partnership between the Association and the Municipality.

At the time, the town council backed Sheldon’s view that municipal employees could not promote Paarl as brand, but should focus on generic promotion of Drakenstein as a whole.

The Association was forced to move to a new office at the corner of Plantasie Street, along with the Paarl Vintners.

Later, when tourism offices had to be accredited by Cape Town Routes Unlimited, it became clear that two offices in one town would not be accredited, and negotiations started to reunite the two operations again under one roof.

Says Maika Goetze, chairperson of the Paarl Tourism Association: “We are happy that we can work together again, with the municipal employees at front of house, and our Jonethan Gouws as marketer.

“We remain separate organisations, and are still negotiating contracts, but this is a much better arrangement.

“One of the main motivators for reuniting the two offices, was the advice from the 2010 Soccer Cup consultants that Drakenstein was a difficult entity to market, and that marketing should focus on wellknown brand names like Paarl and Wellington.”

Paarl Vintners remains at its current office for the time being.