This weekend Tauranga will celebrate Chinese New Year, Children’s Day, Holi Festival, Pride, opening of a world cup and more, in a jam-packed weekend of events.
Pride Week
Pride Tauranga Moana and Tauranga City Libraries have each put together an extensive programme of events to celebrate Tauranga’s rainbow community.
The vibrant programmes span rainbow story time for tamariki with Taranaki drag queens Erika and CoCo Flash to an outdoor screening of Kiki – a documentary following seven young LGBTQI+ people as they explore their passion, art and expression in New York City.
The pride programme runs from Sunday, 5 March – Saturday, 11 March.
Holi Colour Splash
Get colourful with your community at the Holi Colour Splash at Memorial Park this Saturday.
The event kicks off at 12pm with a Bharatanatyam performance that organisers promise will be ‘out of this world’.
The first colour throw starts at 12.30pm and the event will have vegetarian food, games and music.
The 7th New Zealand Chinese Folk Culture Festival
The Historic Village is set to come alive with lanterns, dragon dances and live music to celebrate Chinese New Year.
The event will showcase China’s rich and colourful folk culture with lots of activities and performances to (belatedly) ring in the year of the rabbit.
Head to The Historic Village on 17th Avenue on Saturday, 4 March from 3pm.
All Ford Day
Ford vehicles from as far back as the 1900's will be on display at All Ford Day at Wharepai Domain this Sunday.
Those who bring their Ford along will be in to win spot prizes.
Gates for show cars open at 8am, gates for the public open at 10am.
Children’s Day on the Waterfront
On Sunday, 5 March in celebration of International Children’s Day, Tauranga City Council has organised the ultimate free children’s day out.
Tauranga’s waterfront will be a hive of activity with live music, face painting, craft activities, roving entertainment and more.
The festivities start at 11am and run until 3pm. Make sure you’re early to grab a free sausage!
GWA Wingfoiling Worldcup and Waterbourne Festival
Tauranga is the proud host of the first Wingfoiling World Cup in the Pacific! Head to Mount Maunganui this weekend to see the action.
Wingfoiling is a fascinating new sport that is expected to feature at the next Olympics. Athletes ride the waves on a hydrofoil board while harnessing the wind’s power with a handheld wing.
From Saturday, 4 March to Saturday, 11 March athletes from around the globe will be competing for to be world champions in both freestyle and race.
The competition is part of the Waterbourne Beach Festival which will have paddleboarding championships, sandcastle competitions and live music.
Beast of a Feast
Good beer, good food and Good Shirt are the focus for this year’s Beast of a Feast at Soper Reserve. Over twelve craft brewers will be at the festival, along with food trucks and live music on Saturday, 4 March from 2pm.
Oceania Cultural Festival
This free community event will feature performances by Three Houses Down with General Fiyah and Swiss & Tree. Delicious Pasefika food will be available and 11 community cultural groups will also stake the stage.
Live performances start from 3pm on Saturday, 4 March at Trustpower Baypark Arena.
Volleyball NZ G.J. Gardner Homes NZ Beach Tour
From Friday, 3 March to Sunday, 5 March the first of the final two NZ Beach tour events will take place, featuring the top 12 men’s and women’s teams from NZ as well as international athletes. Head to Mt Maunganui main beach East to see the action.
To see all these events and more head to mytauranga.co.nz.