This Weekend: Add some colour

Venus Mantrapp in the crowds at the Big Gay Out festival at Coyle Park In Pt Chevalier. Photo / Jason Dorday

It's feeling pretty blustery out there, and who knows what the weekend weather holds, but we're planning a big colourful weekend of action anyway.

Happy and gay

Auckland's Pride Festival, running in various forms since the 90s, is three weeks of celebrating gay culture. Serious, funny, clever and always with huge style. Tonight's champagne corks at the opening Gala is sophisticated theatre - dress up, Alison Mau hosting, dazzling circus, burlesque, Mika and more. Sunday's LYC Big Gay Out - try to ignore the tiresome floods of politicians there for their photo ops, it's election year, folks - and focus on the pumping dance tents, headline performances from Good Shirt, Kittens of the Internet, and Lavina Williams, our favourite drag queens (now called 'community acts') market stalls, food, retail, and one big happy crowd. (Head back to Life & Style on Monday for a gallery of all the street style from the event in Style File.)

Details: LYC Big Gay Out buses from Family Bar, K' Road to Coyle Park every 20 minutes from 11.30am - with the last bus returning from Coyle Park to Family Bar at 8pm. $2. Visit the website here.

Auckland's first Ciclovia

Don your frockiest frocks, your hipster threads (this is not the time for lycra, thanks guys) and join throngs of cyclists, scooterers, skaters and other people on wheels from Britomart to Silo Park. Entertainment, spot prizes, obstacle courses, bike decorating and more. Adopt your next favourite sport - bike polo. Auckland Hardcourt Bike Polo club will be demonstrating and have spare bikes and mallets and for anybody who wants to give it a go. Wheely good fun.

Details: Saturday, 10am to 4pm. From Britomart to Silo Park, Auckland. Free. Details on Facebook here.

Soak up all the fun in a mud run. Photo / Duncan Brown

Great Mud Run

If you don't have as much style - or makeup - as Big Gay Out, keep heading west to the Te Atatu peninsula for the Great Mud Run. This kindy fundraiser is filthy and fun (they'll be the only folks praying for rain this weekend) with an old fashioned sausage sizzle, plu watermelon and cupcakes for afterwards. Entry by koha and they'll hose you down for free afterwards. Visit the NZ Herald online on Sunday afternoon for a gallery of snaps from the family-friendly event.

Details: Sunday registration from 9am, race at 10am. Chapman Reserve, Te Atatu. Check out their Facebook page here.

The weekend's weather:

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