The annual regatta at Pahi has been a festive affair for as long as anyone can remember.
It is a time of the year when the small harbour settlement comes alive, with land and water activities keenly contested, and crowds gathering for the fun of the day.
After more than 122 years, the Pahi Regatta is still very much on the Kaipara calendar.
This year's event promises to be no exception. A large marquee will offer a wide variety of entertainment including the Miss Pahi contest.
Open to contestants of all ages from tots to grans, the contest is a much-favoured event with competitors and spectators.
On the water, the launch races are still a highlight of the event. An evening social and prizegiving follows the Saturday activities.
On Sunday the kayak races and the bathtub race, with a $1000 prize, are always fiercely challenged.
Pahi Regatta Club members and supporters will this year control the event from a state-of-the-art clubroom.
The club has dug deep into the coffers to come up with a Sunshine Home as its new headquarters. No one seems quite sure how long the previous corrugated iron shack had been the Pahi Regatta clubrooms, but it is thought to be since sometime between the two World Wars.
This year, after many years of progressing dilapidation, it was replaced and renovations to the adjacent Pahi Hall also completed.
The community is proud of their regatta, which has weathered the course of time. While many of the events have changed in keeping with the modern era, one can well imagine the excitement that would have existed when all manner of craft followed the wake of steamers from Helensville to Dargaville.
Men, dogs and horses were once part of the contests with the horses swimming the half-a-mile from Whakapirau to Pahi, with their riders clinging to their tails.
The long, greasy boom suspended over the water was a test for any man, and so was the greasy pig that everyone found so hard to catch.
However, the historic Moreton Bay fig tree still spreads its branches to shade picnickers as it has done for decades. Its branches were once the stage for the brass bands which came ashore from the flagships.
Food and refreshment a-plenty will flow and the grassed banks will still echo with shouts of encouragement and children's laughter.
Minibuses will transport people free of charge from the carpark to the Pahi Wharf.
Something in the water at Pahi
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