Pupils from Te Manawa o Pāpāmoa School will be showing off their garden as part of the BOP Garden & Art Festival.
Pupils from Te Manawa o Pāpāmoa School will be showing off their garden as part of the BOP Garden & Art Festival.
As well as the much-loved garden and art trails, there’s Te Puke’s own the Bay – there’s plenty of BoP Garden & Art Festival action about to be unleashed.
The popular, biennial festival starts today and runs until Sunday.
As well as the much-loved garden and art trails, there’s TePuke’s own Gardens on Wheels competition and Bloom in the Bay.
Bloom in the Bay will be held Thursday - Sunday at the festival hub on the water’s edge at Tauranga CBD’s new Strand development. Jampacked with plenty of learning and entertainment opportunities, it will be free to those with tickets to the festival’s garden and art trails and to children under 14, and only $5 to non-ticket holders.
The action will include workshops and speaker sessions led by experts on gardening, art and other creative pursuits, sustainability and wellness.
Kenrick Smith (left), and Gavin Bisman from The Sauna Project Pāpāmoa. Photo / Jackie O Photography.
Bloom in the Bay’s subject matter will be hugely varied, from demonstrations covering the skill of knife making to a workshop focused on tequila mixology. Discussion topics will include waste minimisation, saving seeds, biosecurity, predator free solutions and there will be the opportunity to try your hand at pottery making and flower arranging.
There will also be art on display, live music, food truck sustenance, a pop-up tattoo studio, and a dedicated wellness zone. The latter will include yoga, Tai chi, breathwork, Reiki and flower readings, facial sculpting, and sauna (and cold dip) opportunities.
BOP Garden & Art Festival director Marc Anderson says Bloom in the Bay will be a family-friendly place for engaging and educational experiences … and fun and relaxation. Some of the spaces at the workshops and the wellness zone may require pre-booking. Information on exactly what’s on offer at what time (and the opportunity to book classes/workshops) is available on the festival website
All this planned waterfront activity is a fabulous addition to the garden and art trail, which remains the integral part of the biennial BOP Garden & Art Festival, Anderson says.
There will be more than 60 gardens in a trail of 79 garden and art stops, and about 80 artists taking part in the festival. Artists will be displaying their works throughout various gardens and galleries. What is guaranteed is a lot of “wow” for art and garden lovers alike, Anderson says.
Among the gardens is Te Manawa o Pāpāmoa School’s garden, a vibrant space lovingly nurtured by students and PiPS staff.
Here, you’ll discover a flourishing organic food garden, carefully tended by enthusiastic kaimanawa (learners). Each child has the opportunity to dig in and learn about the lifecycle of plants, from sowing seeds to saving them.
Coastal Cups, the school’s coffee shop, will be operating from 9am-noon every day. During school hours, students will guide visitors around the garden.
Want to check out those gardens and art? It’s not too late to buy tickets – visit the website for ticketing information.
Bayleys is the festival’s principal sponsor, while the garden and art trail is sponsored by Palmers Bethlehem, and Bloom in the Bay by Craigs Investment Partners.
