The group of five are keen to make a difference. They were fortunate enough to be supported by their iwi to attend a national Iwi Chairs' Forum a few years back.
Waitangi Day is the only occasion they are fully in charge of, but they help with "pretty much every iwi kaupapa".
They're expecting to help organise the annual Pākaitore Day commemoration.
Pākaitore Day, February 28, falls on a Friday this year. The celebration is likely to span a weekend, with main organisers Jay Rerekura, Mariana Waitai and Ken Mair.
The five will also be among the young leaders at a planned rangatahi (youth) summit next month.
They said none of the local iwi (tribes) have huge numbers and all are related, so it makes sense that they support each other.
The five each have stronger ties to certain groups - for Skinner that is Ngā Paerangi, for Ah Ching Ngā Paerangi and Samoa, for Solomon it's Ngā Rauru Kiitahi, for Wilson it's Ngāti Rangiwhakaturia and for Meihana it's Ngā Wairiki/Ngāti Apa and Rātana.
All of them have full-time jobs.
Ah Ching and Skinner work at Te Kura o Kokohuia, Ah Ching in administration and Skinner as a teacher.
Meihana and Wilson are both iwi development contractors, working for a range of organisations.
Solomon, the oldest of the five, interacts with the public for the Ministry of Social Development.
Whatever the five do for their iwi, they know their elders have got their backs.
This year's Picnic at the Pā was a hit. Photo / Lewis Gardner
"We're not scared to do things, because we know people are backing us. If anything goes wrong people will be there to support us."
They were stoked with the way Waitangi Day unfolded this year. First they were pleased a diverse range of people arrived for 7am karakia. Then everyone was brought to sit in an "empowerment circle" at Pākaitore/Moutoa Gardens and all joined in a Māori movement session.
There was also a more diverse crowd than usual for Picnic at the Pā across the middle of the day.
Plans for future Waitangi Days include showing big photographs of the tupuna (ancestors) who signed the Treaty of Waitangi in May 1840 in places around Whanganui. Meihana would also like a barge on the river, to use as a stage.
Innovations this year included historic tours of the gardens led by Jay Rerekura, and a waka paddle on the river for people over 65.
The five would also like to start some gentle discussion about the Treaty of Waitangi and what it means today.
"We have had five years of getting people together. The diversity has changed and we are starting to add little bits of learning. If you bring them in straight away you are going to scare people off," Skinner said.
In their first two years of organising Waitangi Day the group had no budget at all.
"We just had whatever we put together."
This year it had $10,000 from Whanganui District Council.
But Wilson said that doesn't go far. It costs nearly $1000 to close part of Somme Pde for a day. Then there is insurance and advertising, a stage, a sound system.
Performers on the day got a koha (donation) - but not a stingy koha, Skinner said, a good one. The organisers only got satisfaction.
"We don't pay ourselves. All the money we used on the event."
Wilson imagines Whakawhanake will continue to get the Waitangi Day organising job, with some kind of budget, for the next few years - because it's in the council's Long Term Plan.
