Two-day festival to celebrate Palmertson North’s cultural identity

Manawatu Guardian

20 Feb, 2023 10:36 PM3 mins to read

The Festival of Cultures is returning to Te Marae o Hine from February 24 - 25. Photo / Palmerston North City Council

An annual event will celebrate Palmerston North’s cultural identity through food, fun, crafts and music.

Palmerston North’s award-winning and iconic event, the Festival of Cultures, is returning to Te Marae o Hine from February 24 - 25.

Head of events Luke McIndoe says the two-day festival is one of the city’s longest-standing community events and attracts large numbers each year.

“We have around 14,000 people who come together over these two days to celebrate and showcase their beautiful cultures. Palmerston North is home to more than 150 ethnic groups and about 130 languages are spoken here, so it’s great to be able to show off our diverse cultural identity and have some fun.”

The event will start with a Lantern Parade this Friday, starting at 5pm.

Te Marae o Hine will be lit up with lanterns, and there’ll be live music and plenty of activities for children.

The Hot Potato band, from Australia, will be stopping in to put on a show as part of their New Zealand tour.

Before the event, the brass collective will be workshopping with school students and getting them ready to be part of the Festival of Cultures’ Lantern Parade.

The World Food, Craft and Music Fair follows on Saturday and will be a full-day event. It provides the chance to try something from another culture, whether that’s crafts or exotic cuisines, or to enjoy the many different styles of dance.

At the ‘have-a-go’ tent, people can grab a global passport and take part in a variety of different games and activities. Once they’ve had a go at everything, they can hand their global passport back in and go in the draw to win some prizes.

Also on Saturday, the Manawatū Multicultural Council will celebrate 30 years of supporting and connecting the diverse communities in the region.

This diversity will mainly be celebrated over the weekend, but to kick off the celebrations, there will be a Teas and Coffees of the World event on Thursday, February 23.

This will be held at Caccia Birch from 4 – 8pm. People will be able to experience the culture and traditions of some of the iconic teas and coffees from different parts of the world.

For more information, visit www.pncc.govt.nz/events.