An annual race held in October each year is run from Palmerston railway station to the summit of Puketapu and back, which is called "Kelly's canter", dedicated to Albert Kelly who ran up Puketapu as a constable in the Palmerston police force every day during World War II to look out for enemy ships.

There are several versions of the traditional story of the area but they all tell of the arrival of Rākaihautū from the ancestral homeland Hawaiki who met the Kahui Tipua people who were already here.

He showed them kūmara, or sweet potatoes, and they built waka (canoes) including Ārai Te Uru to go to Hawaiki and bring back this new and valuable food.

However, on its return the vessel became waterlogged off the Waitaki River mouth, spilled food baskets on Moeraki and Katiki beaches and was wrecked at Shag Point / Matakaea, where it turned into what is now called Danger Reef.

It is tempting to identify the occupants of an archaeological site close to the mouth of the Waihemo / Shag River with the people of Ārai Te Uru but that can only be speculation.