Havelock North Village carnival 'biggest yet'

Catherine Aplin, 5, from Hastings takes part in the Havelock North Village street carnival on Saturday. PHOTO/PAUL TAYLOR

The Havelock North Village street carnival on Saturday was "the biggest yet", says Havelock North Business Association marketing manager Aimee Stewart.

She said it had the biggest number of people, the biggest footprint and the most number of businesses taking part.

"From 9.30am to 1pm all the streets were consistently full, which is great," she said.

The Carnival extended to include the Piece-makers Market beside Hawthorne Coffee Roastery & Espresso Bar and to the Havelock North Function Centre where the Keirunga Arts & Crafts Society showcased spinners, weavers, potters, folk art, quilters and painters.

The Havelock Handmade Market set up shop in the Village Court.

She said she was anxious the morning of the event because a front was due bringing cold wet weather.

"It was fantastic - thankfully the weather held for us," she said.

The Carnival is a transformed Boulevard Day and better showcased Havelock North, she said.

"We re-branded into a carnival, brought more people in and focused on entertainment and family food. That way it is a big family day out and brings more people into the village."

Entertainments such as story readings, a magician, a fairy, face painting, live music, street performances and bouncy castles were afforded with help from a Hastings District Council grant and a mystery corporate sponsor "that doesn't want any recognition".

"It is such a positive, happy and community day."

In Saturday's Hawke's Bay Today historian Michael Fowler wrote a Havelock North street carnival was a tradition more than a century old.