Dawn parades and remembrance services will be held across the Western Bay on Thursday to commemorate Anzac Day and honour New Zealand's fallen soldiers.
April 25 will mark 104 years since the landing of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps at Gallipoli during World War I in 1915.
Dawn parades will be held in Mount Maunganui, Tauranga, Maketū and Katikati.
Civic services were planned for later in the morning at Pāpāmoa, Tauranga, Pyes Pā and Te Puke.
Mount Maunganui RSA club support manager Peter Moss said more than 1500 people usually attended the dawn service at the Mount cenotaph on Marine Parade.
This year a civic service will also be held at the new Pāpāmoa Memorial on Stella Place, where a new flag pole was to be erected today.
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"Anzac Day is a celebration of a nation when New Zealanders became New Zealanders," Moss said. "On April 25th we became who we are today."
This year will be Moss' 12th dawn service.
"Seeing the elder people out there with their medals who refuse to sit down is pretty special," he said. "As well as all of the young children including the Girl Guides and Boy Scouts."
Tauranga RSA president Fred Milligan said about 2000 people typically attended the dawn service.
Milligan said dawn services did not start until 1939 and were an opportunity for people to remember the fallen.
"It is part of our history," he said. "Most of us will have some sort of connection with Anzac Day."
Milligan said he had been to almost every dawn service since he joined the RSA in 1965.
In an early tribute to Anzac Day, Tauranga families have helped to plant more than 2000 hand-crafted poppies in the hills lining the entrance to the city's newest mall.
The poppies were planted at Tauranga Crossing during the school holidays as an art installation.
COMMEMORATIONS:
Mount Maunganui
Dawn parade
Cenotaph on Marine Parade – opposite Mount Drury
5.30 – Marchers assemble at Mount Drury for 5.55 march off
6 – Service begins
Free park and ride service from Kawaka St (behind Blake Park) to Mount Drury from 5 to 5.50, returning from 6.15 to 7.30.
Pāpāmoa
Pāpāmoa Memorial
Stella Place carpark next to Pāpāmoa Pony Club
10.45 – Marchers assemble at Pāpāmoa Memorial for 10.55 march off
11 – Service begins
Tauranga
Dawn parade
Tauranga RSA Cenotaph, 1237 Cameron Rd
5.45 – Marchers assemble at Hayes Avenue, 5.55 march off
6 – Service begins
Memorial park service
8.30 – Marchers assemble next to Queen Elizabeth Youth Centre for 8.55 march off
9 – Service begins
Free park and ride from Tauranga Boys' College to Memorial Park 8-8.40am, buses returning immediately after service.
Pyes Pa Cemetery service
10.30am - Service begins
Maketū
Dawn service
Maketu Cenotaph
5.45am – Marchers assemble at Cenotaph
6am – Service begins
Te Puke
Civic parade
Citizens RSA Te Puke carpark on Belvedere St
10:30am - Marchers assemble
11am - Service commences
Katikati
Dawn service
Katikati Memorial Square, Main Rd
5.45am – Marchers assemble at the Talisman carpark
6am – Service begins
Katikati cemetery service
Hot Springs Rd
9am – A short service blessing of those who served.