Dialogue: Could middle NZ put on a parade?

Well-travelled tourists used to say that arriving in New Zealand was like stepping back 20-odd years: parochial attitudes, lack of flair, and tearooms rather than cafes.

Although it made us angry, New Zealanders could do nothing more than get defensive and suggest that those who were disappointed should go home. At last things are changing, in Auckland at least.

With the Asian Lantern Festival the weekend before last, the Hero Festival just gone and Pasifika coming up, Auckland feels like a real cosmopolitan city that can stand proud on the international circuit.

But as all these festivals become calendar fixtures rather than weeds to be uprooted, it's time to examine the irony and hypocrisy that they evoke.

The very festivals that give the Auckland summer colour and a real sense of community are not brought to us by the great unwashed of middle New Zealand. They are produced by the fringes of society, against which there is often prejudice.

At the Lantern Festival I noted many mainstream Caucasians experimenting and exploring the delights of Eastern culture, and wondered if these were the same ones who bemoaned the influx of immigrants from the east and "bloody Asian drivers."

I am both bemused and bored by hearing anti-Asian sentiment bubbling away below the surface of predominantly white New Zealand. I'm a Eurasian Kiwi, and people who should know better and who don't pick my heritage often confide in me their concern that the Asians are taking over our country.

I wish they would accept that Asian cultures are good for more than yum cha and fireworks. The Chinatowns and Japantowns of the world always make great cities even more interesting.

And then there is the furore that Hero seems to evoke every couple of years. Why should the bondage float (usually the biggest crowd pleaser) be tamed to placate a more traditional audience? This is not a family show and surely those who find it offensive should just stay out of Ponsonby for one night of the year.

Sure, it's great that Auckland now seems to love Hero, but it is still astounding that the council seems to tolerate rather than embrace the festivities.

And while over in the commercially savvy corner the parade now enjoys the support of big corporates, a cynic could suggest that these opportunistic marketers are forcing usually straight-up and mainstream brands to camp it up for the night as a sop to the increasingly powerful pink dollar.

It certainly makes for good PR and, as for the crowd, they get the pleasure of watching heterosexuals masquerading as camp-wannabes to blend in with the proceedings.

A Ponsonby-dwelling friend of mine is a mother of two primary school-aged kids and took them to see the Hero Parade on Saturday night.

She offered an astute observation - the Hero Parade was becoming the equivalent of a Thanksgiving Parade for Aucklanders. Indeed, it seems to be just that, judging by the mix of folk in the throng on Saturday evening.

However, one does wonder if that's one hefty responsibility probably better shouldered by the Santa parade.

And then there's Pasifika - my favourite Auckland festival, and something that always has me wishing I were Polynesian, too.

I hope the balmy sub-tropical weather we've been having of late hangs around to greet this festival and to remind us that, like it or not, as a city, we are more connected to the islands than Mother England.

But again we hear Caucasian Kiwis too often dismiss Islander immigrants as simply a drain on society with nothing to add. I often wonder what these critics actually want - to accept only hand-picked attractive and intelligent Scandinavians as immigrants?

Remember when Waitangi Day became New Zealand Day for a while? What was that all about? Whatever, the shame of it is that the middle New Zealand mainstream does need its own cultural event that draws everyone together.

On a national level the closest we will come to it is when the All Blacks are having a run of good luck. On a city level I guess there's always the annual Round the Bays race to fall back on.

But these are mere sporting events, not vibrant celebrations of a culture. We continue to rely on the fringes to provide the cultural entertainment, while a central festival is sadly lacking.