New Zealand's biggest tribe is gearing up for Northland's biggest event - the 2012 Ngapuhi Festival, which is expected to bring up to 40,000 people to Kaikohe.
The festival on January 28-29 is a two-day celebration of the iwi's music, arts, kai and sports held at Northland College in Kaikohe.
The festival is held every second year and serves as a homecoming for the iwi, most of whose 120,000 members live outside the Northland rohe.
Performers confirmed for the main stage include Herbs, Ruia Aperahama, The Maori Volcanics, The Howard Morrison Jr Trio and Ria Hall, who sang at the opening of the Rugby World Cup.
Toi Ngapuhi, an exhibition in the Northland College hall curated by the highly regarded Dargaville artist Colleen Urlich, will showcase the work of top Ngapuhi artists in painting, sculpture, glass, fashion, photography and ta moko. Featuring for the first time will be Ngapuhi taonga from Auckland Museum, including a self-portrait of chief Hongi Hika.
More than 100 stalls are expected, as is a reconstruction of a hakari atamira, a bamboo structure measuring 15m high and 12m long, traditionally built to display goods for a feast.
Te Runanga-a-Iwi o Ngapuhi chief executive George Riley said the festival was the largest event on the Northland events calendar, generating good returns for businesses, hapu, whanau and marae.
"This festival has gone from strength to strength as our people come together with the wider community to celebrate Ngapuhitanga - the essence of what is to be from the largest tribe in the country."
"People make a huge effort to return to their ahi kaa, the heartland of Ngapuhi," Mr Riley said.
The festival attracted 7000 people when it started in 2004. The 2010 event drew more than 30,000 and pumped $4 million into Northland, says the Far North District Council.