Sanctuary Sounds in Takapau, Central Hawke's Bay will transform a rural paddock into a retro-futuristic Sci-Fi three-day festival.
Sanctuary Sounds in Takapau, Central Hawke's Bay will transform a rural paddock into a retro-futuristic Sci-Fi three-day festival.
For three days, during the first weekend of summer, a Takapau paddock turns into a festival hotspot.
Sanctuary Sounds is a not-for-profit music festival showcasing an eclectic mix of music from all over New Zealand and abroad, taking place on December 5 to 7 on Takapau-Ormondville Rd.
Festivaldirector Danielle Burns said the theme this year is set as “retro futuristic world of vintage sci-fi”.
“Every year is a different theme, and this year I actually chose the theme because I turned 42 ... and I thought ‘It’s got to be Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy this year’.”
She said the stage will be “kitted out to look like a vintage spacecraft”, with aliens and babble fish.
They had also used a local sign writer from Takapau to create signs for the festival.
“They bring in the theme and the colour and that whole space gets transformed.”
The lineup includes headline act Kokoa Nashi, a six-piece band from Palmerston North who won the 2025 Battle of the Bands NZ National Champions and secured a tour in Japan.
“They are just a really great New Zealand band with a bit of reggae mix, hip-hop, really soulful, really great New Zealand Kiwi music - we are considering them our headline band.”
The lineup also includes Sam Fowles & The Experience, Donal Gunning & The Bucks, The Rude Boyz, and Bay Batucada, to name a few.
“It’s a really great weekend to get away and enjoy it with some other people and hear some really great live music, that you wouldn’t otherwise hear in these parts of Central Hawke’s Bay.
“If you enjoy camping, enjoy music, it’s a cruisy, relaxed vibe.”
Danielle Burns said the 2025 theme was inspired by the cosmic absurdity of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and the golden age of space-age imagination.
Burns said she relocated to the region for a month to set up and prepare for the event, which can accommodate between 300 and 500 people with free camping available and free entry for 0 to 13-year-olds.
“We have been spending the last few weeks building props, painting and pulling together the theme.”
The event has been going on for 19 years, originally starting in Pukehou on College Rd.
“It was a small gathering of musicians essentially, and they set up the back porch of the house as a stage and invited a bunch of people around to play music.”
The event grew to include ticket sales and food, and, in 2013, it became a three-day festival.
“Most of the people were staying for three days anyway, so we figured might as well make it a three-day festival and add more bands.”
She said that eight years ago, they moved to the property in Takapau, which they worked to transform into a usable space.
“At the time it was all blackberry ... we spent a year clearing blackberry and preparing the land, and have been building it over the past seven or eight years.”
Burns described the event as small compared to other festivals in the country, but that was what they liked.
“It is what we want and the way we want to keep it, so it’s very community-oriented.”
Burns said this year they achieved charitable trust status, which meant they were able to secure funding and offer mentoring for youth interested in the music or festival event management industry.
“Bringing them on board to work alongside the sound engineer, or lighting engineer or work alongside me and learn about event management.”
Tickets will be on sale online until Thursday night, with gate sales at the event.
Michaela Gower joined Hawke’s Bay Today in 2023 and is based out of the Hastings newsroom. She covers Dannevirke and Hawke’s Bay news and loves sharing stories about farming and rural communities.
