A Tauranga Arts Festival event in the Carrus Crystal Palace in 2023. Photo / Supplied
Arts and culture experiences, live sports and that brave first swim of the almost-summer season – Tauranga residents have it all at their doorsteps this Labour weekend.
The Tauranga Arts Festival kicks off today and is expected to draw thousands of people to its schedule of events at the Baycourt Community Arts Centre, Carrus Crystal Palace at the Strand waterfront and other venues.
Festival general manager Sarah Cotter said it would have “something for everybody”.
Cotter said it hoped to attract some of the young people who had moved to Tauranga in the past five years.
“A lot of those people have had access to arts and culture wherever they’ve come from.
“We feel like it’s Tauranga’s turn to offer that.”
Cotter said 12,000 people were expected for the festival’s 50 ticketed events and “a few thousand more” for its 28 free events.
One free event at the Cargo Shed on Saturday was Zinefest, which Cotter described as “independent publishing and creativity gone wild”.
Meanwhile, she likened the ticketed Saturday event Battle Chorus to the movie Pitch Perfect.
The audience would be split up to learn choruses of hit songs and then come back for a “sing-off”.
A baby grand piano called “undergrand” would be “popping up all over town”, including Mount Main Beach on Monday from 6.30am to 8am.
“That will make the walk up the Mount just a little bit more memorable and Instagrammable,” Cotter said.
Multi-award-winning country singer Tami Neilson will perform at Holy Trinity Church on Friday and Cirque Bon Bon starts today and runs until Saturday.
“If you haven’t been to the festival before, get along and support it … it’s a really cool celebration,” Cotter said.
The festival runs until November 2.
Waimarino Adventure Park will celebrate its 50th anniversary on Labour Day weekend.
Owner Blair Anderson said there would be children’s activities, face-painting, local radio stations and DJs, and “big specials” on-site this weekend.
Anderson said his parents, Barry and Barbara, created Waimarino in 1975 and were “still enjoying seeing people come through”.
Anderson took over the family business in 2003.
He was proud of the success of the Olympians who had trained at the Wairoa River facility, namely Luuka Jones, Mike Dawson, Ella, Bryden and Jane Nicholas.
Anderson thanked the Tauranga community and the “many people” who had helped at Waimarino over the years.
Sports-lovers could have a weekend of it, hitting up Saturday night speedway at Mercury Baypark, Sunday’s cricket ODI between the Black Caps and England at Bay Oval, and one of Australasia’s largest basketball tournaments, The Classic by HoopNation.
Running Friday to Monday at Mercury Baypark Arena and Tauranga venues, the basketball event will mark its 15th anniversary and 10th year in Tauranga with 600 games, 200 teams and close to 2000 athletes, including top players from Aotearoa, Australia and the US.
Surf Life Saving NZ eastern region lifesaving manager Chaz Gibbons‑Campbell said patrols on “most” beaches in the Coromandel and Bay of Plenty would begin this weekend, including Mount Maunganui, Omanu and Pāpāmoa.
“It’s certainly warm weather and the sea temperatures are warm, so we are expecting large numbers out.”
He urged caution as “a bit of swell” was expected.
His key summer safety measures were to know how to float, which could increase chances of survival for swimmers in difficulty; choose patrolled beaches; “know your limit”; and to use the safe swim website or app.
Gibbons‑Campbell said the app would now update with “live hazards or risks”, such as a large swell, strong currents or high winds.
“Last year, the lifeguards would update those manually at the start of each day but this year we’ve teamed up with MetService and Niwa [now Earth Sciences NZ] to help us put a bit of AI into the platform.”
Gibbons‑Campbell said lifeguards had been busy getting recertified for the coming season and were “frothing” to get out on patrol.
Surf Life Saving NZ was aiming to recruit 1000 volunteers nationally for the season and anyone interested can visit the organisation’s website.
MetService meteorologist Katie Hillyer said Friday evening would be “quite a settled night” for the Bay of Plenty before “long sunny spells” on Saturday.
On Sunday, the wind and clouds would “pick up a little bit” but it was mostly looking “reasonably dry”.
Some rain was expected from Monday afternoon, she said.
Megan Wilson is a health and general news reporter for the Bay of Plenty Times and the Rotorua Daily Post. She has been a journalist since 2021.