Rain is forecast for the Hastings Blossom Festival this weekend. Photo / Paul Taylor
Rain is forecast for the Hastings Blossom Festival this weekend. Photo / Paul Taylor
Hastings’ famous Blossom Parade has never been rained out yet.
Organisers hope that record stays intact, particularly as they say this year’s parade is set to be the biggest ever, with 70 float entries booked in and a variety of other spectacular events in store.
“This coming weekend is looking like quite a wet one for most of the North Island,” MetService Meteorologist Mmathapelo Makgabutlane said on Friday.
For Hawke’s Bay, she said there would likely be some notable rain “from the middle of Saturday onwards”, which unfortunately lined up with the Blossom Parade start time of 1pm.
Hastings Blossom Parade director Lyn Mackie has seen this before though.
“We’ve had a few times, like last year, where everyone was telling me it’s going to rain because the weather forecast was really bad. I think it ended up raining in the morning and fining up in the afternoon,” she told Hawke’s Bay Today earlier.
Makgabutlane said the first part of the Saturday would be on the warm side, but Sunday would see a bit of a temperature drop back to the mid-teens.
Though the rain is expected, the wind will mostly stay away, so there’s no risk of rogue flying blossoms. Makgabutlane encouraged people to keep up to date with the latest MetService forecast throughout the weekend.
A Hastings District Council spokesperson said on Friday that it was all systems go for Saturday, although Sunday’s Blossom Parade festivities would be reviewed at 8am and cancelled if the weather was too bad.
The parade is the longest-standing event of the annual celebration, which in recent times has been extended to a three-day festival, bringing punters a feast of activities for free.
A giant apple crumble made by Paella A Go Go will treat festival-goers over the weekend. Photo / Simon Cartwright
Bars and restaurants across the city centre will be offering blooming special meals and drinks throughout the three days.
Saturday morning kicks off with an apple crumble Blossom Breakfast in Landmarks Square, as well as activities all day for the kids in the central mall, including a giant inflatable slide, face painting, balloon animals, and Mr Whippy ice-creams.
Carnival rides will also be set up in Albert Square, running all day Saturday, and from 10am to 2pm on Sunday. A free outdoor screening of The Greatest Showman will take place on Sunday afternoon.
“It’s so fantastic to have all this fun and life in our city centre, and what’s more, it’s free,” Hastings Deputy Mayor Tania Kerr said.
“After what has been a very challenging six months, I hope families get a chance to come and enjoy some time out from everyday life.”
