10 Bay events confirmed

Tauranga Santa Parade. Mad Scientist Tim Gillies-Smith 7. 29 November 2014 Bay of Plenty Times Photograph by Andrew Warner. BTG 01Dec14 - PROFESSOR: Mad scientist Tim Gillies-Smith, 7, get a uniq

Ten community events will have the funding they need to continue thanks to Tauranga City Council's Community Events Fund.

The council today announced the 10 events it has agreed to fund. The selected events were chosen from 40 events.

The 10 events are:

- Pedal Papamoa - biking along the Papamoa stormwater bike track family day
- Papamoa's Teddy Bear Picnic with fun and frolicking for small children and all their teds
- Merivale Christmas Festival - an annual Christmas festival for children and their families
- Twelfth Night - the inaugural event in the planned annual Shakespeare Summer Series
- Wonderland Festival and House of Cards Exhibition - a series of art activities to celebrate the 150th year of Alice in Wonderland
- Bay of Plenty Judo Champs and training camp
- Bay of Plenty Regional Weightlifting Champs
- Night Owl Cinema Summer Series - an outdoor community cinema run through the summer months
- Tauranga Half Marathon - a community-focussed run/walk event from Fergusson Park
- Welcome Bay Family Music Festival - live music, entertainment and children's activities in Welcome Bay
- the Trustpower Santa Parade - a wonderful celebration of Christmas in the city.

Mayor Stuart Crosby said the funded events embraced a wide range of members of the community, while celebrating Tauranga's diversity and making the most of the city's beautiful surroundings in an environmentally responsible way.

"Community events play an enormous role in bringing people together to celebrate our city, while showcasing everything Tauranga has to offer and encouraging economic development," Mr Crosby said.

"We had a huge response to our call for funding applications and narrowing them down to 10 wasn't an easy process due to the outstanding quality of the proposals. This is a reflection of the passion and motivation of our community to create inclusive, welcoming events for everyone."

Pip Loader, manager of strategic events at Tauranga City Council, said the judging panel focused on bringing a broader range of events alive to celebrate Tauranga's diversity.

"We wanted to bring inspiration and fresh vibes to Tauranga; events that will shape the heart and soul of our city," Ms Loader said.

"This year, we changed the funding criteria to help get new creative and innovative events off the ground and to showcase Tauranga's great places and spaces. We also wanted events that were inclusive and welcoming, so it was important that they were free or very low cost, family friendly and preferably without a major commercial component.

"We are looking forward to seeing these great community events happening in the coming weeks and months."

The Community Events Fund will reopen on 28 April 2016. Meanwhile Tauranga City Council's Strategic Events team is calling all organisations planning an event for young people to get in touch to talk about how Council might support them.

Contact Michaela Blackman, Events Delivery Coordinator, on 07 577 7000 or michaela.blackman@tauranga.govt.nz to make more made by youth, for youth-events happen.