Nirvana for vinyl record fans at Whangārei Record Collectors Fair

Whangārei vinyl fans at an earlier Record Fair in the city. The fair is on again tomorrow at 116 Bank St from 10am.

There are many reasons why hunters and collectors of vinyl records enjoy their passion.

For some it's the smell of that 12, 10 or 7 inch piece of plastic. For others it's getting the covers, absorbing the artwork and reading the lyrics. For most it's also because of the sound quality.

For others it's nostalgia or the thrill of the chase, hunting for that rare 7 inch bootleg single that's needed to complete the collection.

Whatever the reason, Northland vinyl junkies will be in nirvana tomorrow when the latest Whangārei Record Collectors Fair is held at One One Six, Bank St, from 10am to 4pm.

And while there's no guarantee you'll find that rare as hen's teeth Pink Frost 12 inch, or that first pressing White Album, or that legendary Suburban Reptiles' Saturday Night Stay at Home 45rpm, there'll certainly be plenty of sounds to get the punters happy.

Steve Parrish, from Indigo Records, has more than 20,000 albums, EPs and singles with many on sale tomorrow.

Parrish has both attended and organised vinyl fairs in several countries and this is his third in Whangārei.

The fair is supported by Creative Northland, One One Six and its in-house Beagle Radio (88.1), and the keen customers.

Vinyl records are one of the few growth markets in music in recent years, and tomorrow's fair is held on the same day as International Record Store Day which is something of an international phenomenon at present.

Record Store Day is an annual event inaugurated in 2008 and held on one Saturday every April to "celebrate the culture of the independently owned record store".

The day brings together fans, artists and thousands of independent record stores across the world, but seeing as Whangārei doesn't have a specialist record store, the fair is the next best thing.

A number of records are pressed specially for Record Store Day, with a list of releases for each country, and are only distributed to shops taking part in the event.

The event began in the United States and remains headquartered there. Record Store Day has official international organisers in NZ, the UK, Ireland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Australia, Spain and Poland.