Youth-run music festival a hit (+video)

Rotorua secondary school students have put on a successful music festival for the community, despite encountering some challenges on the day.

The OneChance Music Festival took place on Saturday at Te Kura Kaupapa Maori o Hurungaterangi.

The festival is an initiative of the OneChance Youth Project and involved nine students from five different high schools organising the event.

OneChance Music Festival. Laleyna Vail, left, and Vanessa Barclay. Photo/Ben Fraser

It was supported by the Rotorua Youth Centre and held as a celebration of New Zealand Youth Week and NZ Music Month Rotorua.

Promotions team member Darcy Simon, 17, said the music festival was still good, despite the weather, and the youth all had a good time.

She said she thought it was a good event, since they only had 10 weeks to prepare the festival - "I think we did good".

Popular performances included X-Factor band Brendon Thomas and The Vibes, NZ Idol winner Ben Lummis and Genesis Dance Crew, she said.

There were educational stalls, fundraisers for different schools, rides, a bouncy castle, a jet swing, face-painting and food stalls.

OneChance Music Festival. l-r Ryleigh Lawrence, 13, Brooke Hall Petersen, 13, Jaime Lyle, 13, and Nicole Pakau.

OneChance chief enthusiast Alan Solomon said he reckoned throughout the whole day there would have been 300 to 400 people who attended the festival, with the first half being especially busy while the sun was out.

He said the group of students organising the event were split into teams of promotions, entertainment and venue, with each team looking after that aspect of the festival planning.

"I was impressed with the team's attitude because they had a lot of challenges which they found solutions to, on the day."

Mr Solomon said it was a "mixture of elation and exhaustion" seeing the students' hard work come together.

He said it was good to see the students were all smiling and having fun at the end, during the pack up.

Mr Solomon said they were really grateful to their volunteers and sponsors, because without their help assisting the OneChance team collectively, they would not have been able to put on such a successful event for the community.

Rotorua's Asi Ferguson went to the music festival with her family, and said it was nice and enjoyable.

"The singing and entertainment were good."

Mrs Ferguson said she would recommend the event to others and it was well organised by the students.