Thieves have blighted one of the most innocent of Labour Weekend events in Tauranga.
The Art Treasure Hunt involved the hiding of about 150 birthday-wrapped art pieces, donated by local artists, for people to find as part of Tauranga Arts Festival's 10th birthday on Saturday. People were then given clues throughout the day to help them track down the presents in the CBD.
However, up to 60 of the presents were taken before the official hunt begun. Some presents were found ripped up on the footpath. Police are investigating.
Read more: Tauranga Arts Festival: Tuesday events
Organiser Simone Anderson said she caught one of two groups believed to be responsible loading several art pieces into a van.
Ms Anderson, who runs The Incubator at the Historic Village, said there was no way anyone could have found the presents without having watched where they were placed.
"You go into things with a bit of faith in human nature but the most disappointing thing is that you might feel naive to have that faith in the good of people in the future," she said.
Ms Anderson said the organising team quickly retrieved the remaining presents and replaced them with numbers on sticks for people to find and bring back to claim their art piece.
Fellow organiser Wendy Pedersen said they did not want to disappoint the families taking part in the hunt.
"That was fun, It was still a really positive day. We were all determined not to let it bum us out."