One Love Festival set to go ahead in Tauranga despite heavy rain warnings for Bay of Plenty

The set-up of One Love festival in Tauranga Domain. Photo / Mead Norton

A One Love festival-goer says she’s “not afraid of a bit of rain” as the iconic reggae music event prepares for a wet one.

One Love Festival owner Glenn Meikle said the event was “all go” in spite of heavy rain warnings issued for the Bay of Plenty.

He said One Love was different to Juicy Fest Tauranga, which was cancelled on January 6 because of weather-related safety concerns.

Meikle said Juicy Fest could not be set up because of the wind, however, this weekend, “the wind’s not as bad”.

“All the stage is set up, the production is set up, the wind is coming in a [northeasterly direction], the rain’s not coming into the stage so we’re all go,” he said.

This year’s One Love is expected to be its biggest yet after increasing punter capacity from 20,000 to 22,000. It was near sold out on Thursday.

The reggae festival will be held on Saturday and Sunday at the Tauranga Domain, with the event posting on Facebook it will have 5000 ponchos for sale.

One Love will feature local and international fan favourites, including UB40 featuring Ali Campbell, L.A.B, J Boog, Fiji, Sons of Zion, Kolohe Kai, Rebel Souljahz, Katchafire, and Sean Kingston.

One Love is set to go ahead this weekend. Photo / Mead Norton

Meikle said organisers had “scrambled” to arrange an indoor camping site with Bay Venues.

He said campers were being asked to bring pop-up tents.

“We’ve got all camping going in both sides of Bay Venues [Trustpower Arena]. People are going to get wet - so bring wet weather gear - but also we want them to be dry at night.

“Bring warm clothes, wet weather gear and you’ll have fun.”

MetService has issued heavy rain warnings for the upper North Island including for Bay of Plenty and Coromandel Peninsula.

Tauranga was forecast to be hit by increasingly heavy rain today, with more heavy falls possible on Saturday, with a top of 23C.

One Love fan Gjertine Larsen-Umi and three friends planned to drive from Auckland tomorrow morning for the festival.

“I literally am not prepped. I’m doing it all today so it’s very last minute. Obviously, the weather sort of came out of nowhere.

“We were hoping that it would be great weather ... but obviously, the rain is not going to stop us. Not afraid of a bit of rain.”

Gjertine Larsen-Umi is driving from Auckland to Tauranga for One Love festival this weekend. Photo / Supplied

The 29-year-old said she was trying to find waterproof clothing.

“I was looking for ponchos but they’ve sold out everywhere. I’ve checked two Warehouses, I’ve checked two dollar shops, I’ve checked Kmart, absolutely nothing.”

She bought some waterproof work pants to help keep her warm and dry.

“I’m still trying to find the top half of what I’m wearing - I might just go with a leather jacket because at least that’s waterproof, or a Kathmandu jacket.

“So fashion has gone out the window, sadly.”

Larsen-Umi said she was originally going to be camping on a cousin’s lawn.

“However, because of the weather, we’re all just going to squeeze in the house. We’ll all just be sleeping on the floor.”

She was most looking forward to seeing Kolohe Kai, UB40 and supporting New Zealand acts including Mikey Mayz and Krisy Erin.

Jude Akarana is packing the car and getting ready for One Love festival. Photo / Supplied

Jude Akarana is travelling from Hamilton for One Love.

“I’m packing up the car to go dance in the rain like nobody is watching to Irie sounds and loving vibes.”

Irie is a song by Katchafire, which will be playing at the festival.

Two of three other major music festivals Tauranga was set to host this month were cancelled due to poor weather.

Bay Dreams went ahead on January 3 with an estimated 15,000 attending, A Summer’s Day Live at the same venue was cancelled on January 4 and Juicy Fest was cancelled on January 6. All were at Trustpower Baypark.

Surf Lifesaving champs on, Black Falcons display off

The three-day Eastern Region Surf Lifesaving Championships at Mount Maunganui Beach was still going ahead, events manager Sonia Keepa said on Friday afternoon.

Keepa said some of the championship programme may need to change depending on the conditions over the weekend, but the double-skis and beach sprints were on today, and the second day of competition would start at 8am tomorrow.

The weather has put paid to the Royal NZ Airforce’s Black Falcons aerobatic display over Mount Maunganui beach this evening.

A post on the Black Falcons’ Facebook page said both the Mount Maunganui/Tauranga and Mission Bay shows this weekend had been cancelled “with a heavy heart”.

“The team have been keeping a close eye on the weather and the conditions at the moment have been deemed far too unsafe to be able to fly a display for you guys.

“We are still hopeful that Orewa and Takapuna [shows] can still go ahead as planned. Cross all your fingers and toes and keep track here for updates.”

Weather watch - the week ahead

Looking ahead, MetService meteorologist Angus Hines said Tuesday would “probably be another day of humid, northeasterly winds and some spells of rain”.

“There might be a slight glimmer of hope into Wednesday maybe as that rain could thin out a little bit more comprehensively perhaps across the Bay of Plenty.”

Hines said the second half of the week looked “fairly warm” with “little bits and pieces of wet weather”.