Preparation for blossom parade blooms into action

Harper Harvey, 6, from Hastings concentrates hard as she works to bring her creation to life. Photo / Paul Taylor

This year's Blossom Parade will be dazzled with colour, creativity and wonder.

The Spring event takes place on September 15 and alongside the floats and the bands will stride a larger than life Te Mata O Rongokako his star-crossed lover, Hinerakau by his side, the creations of international artist and community educator, Ally Rogers.

The theme of this year's parade is "Show us you heART" and Rogers has chosen to depict the pair at the centre of Hawke's Bay's oldest love story – the legend of Te Mata Peak.

"It's really important to get ordinary people involved. It's a story that belongs to this place and so it would be wonderful to get the community to celebrate the story and be a part of the parade," she says.

With Te Mata O Rongokako's connection to whenua, and Hinerakau's connection to moana, the workshops will be themed around creatures of mountain and ocean.

Rogers has teamed up with Arts Inc Heretaunga to offer a series of free workshops to create a posse of puppets and costumes for the Hastings Blossom Parade, which takes place on September 15.

Workshops began over the weekend and will continue on both Saturdays and Sundays for the next four weeks in the run up to the parade.

Participants attend a single workshop on each topic that holds their interest, they include Giant Puppet Basics, Wonderful Wings, Gorgeous Head wear and Cardboard Chaos.

Bookings can be made through Facebook or in person at Arts Inc Heretaunga.

Children are welcome and encouraged to attend, but must be accompanied and assisted by an adult.

Rogers says her vocation is for community work and her long-term goal is to set up a social enterprise to share her artistic skills with those who are keen to learn.

The Blossom Parade is always extremely popular in the community, drawing as many as 25,000 in 2011.