Kerikeri gearing up for 200th birthday

The Stone Store (completed 1836) and Kemp House (1822) will feature in celebrations marking the 200th birthday of Kerikeri. Photo / Peter de Graaf

Kerikeri will celebrate its 200th birthday later this year with Tūhono Kerikeri!, a six-month-long programme of events marking its bicentennial.

A pop-up information hub will open in various locations around Kerikeri from June 8 onwards so people can find out what's planned.

The information hub will open at the Packhouse Market on Saturday, June 8, from 8am-1.30pm and Sunday, June 9, from 9am-1.30pm.

The hub will then move to the vacant Mallett's shop from June 11-13 and Kerikeri's Procter Library from June 14.

Kororipo Pā, the stronghold of chief Hongi Hika, will be one of the focal points of the Tūhono Kerikeri! celebrations. Photo / Peter de Graaf

The celebrations will mark the signing of the Deed of Sale on November 4, 1819, which enabled the Kerikeri Mission Station to be established.

Two buildings associated with the original mission, Kemp House and the Stone Store, are today cared for by Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga.

Two other significant places within Kororipo Heritage Park – including Kororipo Pā, the fighting stronghold of rangatira Hongi Hika, and Rewa's Village, which is operated by the hapū Ngāti Rehia – will also feature prominently in the celebrations.

Tūhono Kerikeri! co-ordinator June Pitman said the wider Kerikeri community would be encouraged to get engaged and involved.

The bicentennial project would give locals and visitors a chance to better understand New Zealand's shared heritage by ''celebrating the history of Kerikeri from pre-European times, to early encounters between Māori and Pākehā, through to Kerikeri that we know today,'' she said.

Events will run until April 2020.