The city is at its vibrant best throughout Anniversary Weekend for the Auckland International Buskers Festival. Photo / Komatan
The city is at its vibrant best throughout Anniversary Weekend for the Auckland International Buskers Festival. Photo / Komatan
Now that most Aucklanders have returned from their beach getaways, Tāmaki Makaurau is turning on the charm and letting us all know that it ain’t so bad to be back in the big smoke. There are so many events taking place across the weekend, the challenge is to figure out how many you can fit into one long weekend. There are multiple festivals including the Auckland International Buskers Festival, Auckland Folk Festival and Moana Auckland Festival as well as family entertainment at Motat, the newly refurbished Lilliputt Mini Golf, a tattoo art exhibition, Music in Parks and the Karaka Millions at Ellerslie Racecourse. Here’s our list of the nine best things to do in Auckland this Anniversary Weekend.
1) Auckland International Buskers Festival
The central city is waking up from its summer holiday slumber this weekend. The city is at its vibrant best throughout Anniversary Weekend for the Auckland International Buskers Festival, where you can find talented performers at three city sites: Wynyard Quarter, the Eastern Viaduct and Te Komititanga Square. There are talents of many descriptions on display including stunts, magic, acrobatics, Japanese spinning tops, clowning, contortion and more. Be warned, you may get invited to participate so, if that’s not your thing, maybe don’t plant yourself front and centre. Of course, you could decline the invite but what’s the fun in that? This year’s performers hail from Japan, Italy, Ghana, Australia and Canada and performances start from midday each day.
Chinese artist Xu Hongfei’s sculpture exhibition, Chubby Women, celebrates the female form.
2) Auckland Live Summer in the Square
Aotea Square launches its Summer in the Square series this Saturday with acclaimed Chinese artist Xu Hongfei’s sculpture exhibition, Chubby Women, which celebrates the female form. The artist will be on site on Sunday at 3pm for an artist’s talk. Next weekend, the square will host the Auckland Latin Fiesta, which is always a vibrant event replete with dance, dazzling costumes and delicious food. In February, Summer in the Square includes Afrofest, Lunar New Year in Aotea Square, jazz festival Somethin’ Else, an after-work special of Music in Parks featuring Anna Coddington, the Sky Pirates AllStars 5v5 basketball tournament, closing out with a fun-filled Whānau Day on February 23. An adventure into the city should be on everyone’s summer bucket list this year, if only to enjoy some of the best free entertainment Tāmaki Makaurau has to offer.
When: January 25-February 23.
Where: Aotea Square, Auckland Central. Visit aucklandlive.co.nz for the full schedule.
Hop on one of the heritage trams up to the Aviation Hall where steam locomotive Y542 will be on the Western Springs Railway all weekend. Photo / Richard Ng
3) Anniversary Weekend at Motat
Parents, you’re on the home stretch – school days are on their way. Enjoy these last days with your precious angels, or at least attempt to, by heading down to Motat this weekend. The school holiday experience “Supercharge It” is in its last two weekends, where visitors can test their speed and reaction times in the “Tech it to the Limit Zone” or explore writing methods of the past and future with “Pencils to Pixels”. In Te Puawānanga Science and Technology Centre, you can do the Te Manawa Science Alive Magic Box design challenge. Or, you can hop on one of the heritage trams up to the Aviation Hall where steam locomotive Y542 will be on the Western Springs Railway all weekend and you can ride behind it.
When: January 25-27, 10am-4pm.
Where: Motat, 805 Great North Rd and Motions Rd, Western Springs, Auckland.
Price: Usual Motat entry fees apply.
It’s not too late to grab your tent and set up camp for two full days of folk music. Photo / Pony Baby
4) Auckland Folk Festival
For decades now the Auckland Folk Festival at the Kumeu Showgrounds has been a staple in the Auckland Anniversary Weekend calendar. It kicked off on Friday night but, if you’re feeling particularly spontaneous, it’s not too late to grab your tent and set up camp for two full days of folk music and communing with like-minded music lovers. Of course, if camping sounds too hard at this late stage, there are day passes for Saturday and Sunday as well. In the line-up this year, there’s a bounty of musicians both from here and overseas including Adam McGrath, The Barleyshakes, Hannah Morrell, Tall Folk, Pony Baby and lots more. It’s a great place for families, there’s a dedicated kids' stage where the ever-reliable Suzy Cato will be performing among others. There are dance workshops, speaker talks and a food and craft market to boot. Long weekends are made for lolling about listening to live music and you can do that and more at AFF.
Forever: A Retrospective Exhibition features a curated collection of original paintings, prints, outline drawings and 'old-school tattooing tools'.
5) Two Hands Tattoo
If you’re interested in tattoo art, and approximately one in five of us are interested enough to get one, then a new exhibition celebrating the 20th birthday of Ponsonby-based Two Hands Tattoo is worth a visit this weekend. Hosted by Studio One Toi Tū, Forever: A Retrospective Exhibition features a curated collection of original paintings, prints, outline drawings and “old-school tattooing tools” celebrating the legacy of Two Hands and its world-renowned founder Stefan “Spider” Sinclair. If the exhibition gets you inspired, mark your calendar for February 14-16 when the gallery will be hosting a three-day tattoo convention, Tattoo Time 2025. There will be 32 tattoo artists from all around the world doing live tattooing on a first-come, first-served basis so be punctual if you want to get inked.
When:Forever: A Retrospective Exhibition, January 22-February 22. Tattoo Time 2025: February 14-16.
Where: Studio One Toi Tū, 1 Ponsonby Rd, Grey Lynn, Auckland.
Price: Free.
Grab your rabbit’s foot or don your lucky undies and get ready to place your bets. Photo / Megan Liefting
6) Karaka Millions
Could there be a better way to start off your 2025 than by winning your share of a one-million-dollar horse race? That hefty sum is on the table three times at the TAB Karaka Millions at Ellerslie Racecourse on Saturday so grab your rabbit’s foot or don your lucky undies and get ready to place your bets. If you lose everything, at least there’s The Birdcage Bash after-party with live band, DJ and even a laser light show, where you can drown your worries and/or dance away your troubles well into the night. It’s one of the highlights of the racing calendar, so take the opportunity to spruce yourself up and socialise trackside this weekend. There’ll be good food, very fast horses and some of the best people watching this country has to offer.
The Lilliputt Mini Golf course on Tāmaki Drive has undergone a massive refurbishment recently.
7) Lilliputt Tāmaki Drive
Sitting on some of Auckland’s most desirable real estate, the Lilliputt Mini Golf course on Tāmaki Drive has undergone a massive refurbishment recently. Phase one is complete and the two links-style mini golf courses are now fully operational. Looking out over the harbour, you’d be forgiven for missing a few putts due to the distracting view. The next phase of construction will see the site expand to include a cafe, community space and children’s playground which will surely make Lilliputt a popular locale for local and visiting whānau. We also speculate that a date including an evening round of mini-golf could tell you everything you need to know about a prospective partner. It’s open throughout the long weekend and is definitely worth checking out what they’ve done with the place.
When: Open daily, 10am - 9pm.
Where: 3 Tāmaki Drive, Auckland.
Price: Tickets start at $17 for one course and $21 for two courses from tamakidrive.lilliputt.co.nz or on-site.
The Moana festival includes multiple on-water events. Photo / Zach Quin, www.photosport.nz
8) Moana Festival
On Monday, one of Auckland’s newest festivals – the Moana Auckland Festival – kicks off with one of the world’s oldest regattas: the Auckland Anniversary Day Regatta. Now in its second year, the festival celebrates the precious taonga that is the Waitematā by hosting six weeks of wide-ranging events. Along with Monday’s regatta, the festival also includes multiple other on-water events including the IWWF World University Waterski Championship, the PIC Harbour Classic yacht race, the Millenium Cup superyacht regatta and the Z Manu World Champs. Off the water, there’s the Auckland Boat Show, the Mermaid Parade, family fun at the Maritime Museum, a waterfront concert by Six60 and loads more. If you’re more of a doer than a watcher, why not sign up for the Rangitoto Swim next weekend or register for the Moana Music Open Mic competition? Tāmaki Makaurau is pretty magical at this time of year and the Moana Auckland Festival gives you lots of opportunities to see why.
Where: Various locations on Auckland’s waterfront and the Waitematā harbour. Visit aucklandnz.com for more information.
We love Auckland Council’s free Music in Parks concerts. Photo / Azrie Azizi
9) Music in Parks
We love Auckland Council’s free Music in Parks concerts and Saturday is one of the most popular events in the series: Opera in the Park. Hosted at Glover Park in St Heliers, the evening concert features the vocal talents of Joanna Foote, Sarah Mileham, Taylor Wallbank, Joel Amosa, Alfred Fonoti-Fuimaono, with pianist David Kelly and MC Kawiti Waetford. Bring a picnic dinner and rug up for this one. For a completely different vibe, head out to the Rifle Range Amphitheatre in Hobsonville on Sunday afternoon where you can catch unique electronic, rock and pop from local rising stars Paul the Kid, Vanessa Tottle and Ocean Beach. Go early and pick up some treats from the Catalina Bay Farmers Market for an artisanal concert picnic.
