Fun community event makes a splash (+photos)

Image 1 of 10: Hohepa Rogers, 6, quickly darts of reach with the ball at the Summer Splash Festival at Tikitapu (Blue Lake). 15 March 2015 Daily Post photograph by Stephen Parker. RGP 16Mar15 -

Hundreds of young people enjoyed the sun and free activities on offer at the Summer Splash Festival.

Organised by the Rotorua Lakes Council, the event on Saturday aimed to provide a community day out to enjoy the city's lakes and promote water safety, project organiser and councillor Tania Tapsell said.

"It was amazing. We had a great turnout and was a really enjoyable day for families," Ms Tapsell said. "I had seen something similar held elsewhere and we have these beautiful lakes so it was about pulling together resources to be able to provide a great free family event for the community."

Activities on offer included volleyball, softball and rugby as well as an inflatable slide, kayaking, music and lifejacket awareness lessons.

Organisations that also helped out on the day were the Bay of Plenty Regional Council, Te Arawa Lakes Trust and Te Waiariki Purea Trust.

Sponsor Valley Charters also provided transport from the Rotorua Aquatic Centre.

"For all those helping out on the day, the highlight for us was seeing the joy on the children's faces having fun. The free bus system really worked well and we were wanting to ensure the whole community could enjoy it and help bring people out there who otherwise may not have been able to make it," she said.

"We had been planning this for a few a months now, the Rotorua Lakes Council sports and recreation team and I. But there were a lot of volunteers helping out like the lifeguards from the Aquatic Centre."

The festival will become an annual event.

"We also were collecting feedback from the young people for the Rotorua Youth Voice project. We were asking them what were the important issues for them ... We had 600 responses and will be presenting this back to council."