K'Rd Karnival 'humming'

A fire breather lights up rainy skies at Auckland's K'Rd Karnival on Saturday. Picture / Amos Chapple

Despite the gloomy weather, a large crowd turned out for the K'Rd Karnival, which began at 9am with a market and culminated in a parade and street party lasting until 11pm.

The market featured stalls of enticing goods from local shops and craftspeople.

Street performers and face painters roamed the crowd and bands including AK Samba, One Million Dollars and Batucada Sound Machine performed on a stage on the road, which was closed to all but two lanes of traffic during the day.

The parade at 8.30pm saw the road closed completely between Queen St and Howe St.

Organiser Heidi Hughes said it was difficult to judge the size of the crowd because people came and went during the day.

But she said both sides of the road were lined during the parade and the street party afterwards was "humming".

This year was the first time that the carnival had run all day and that the road was closed to traffic. Last year, there was only a parade.

The festival will run for the entire day again next year.