Wairarapa kapa haka fest biggest yet

POISE: Carterton School's Tariana Adams.

Close to 1000 schoolchildren battled in Featherston yesterday at the ninth annual Wairarapa REAP Kapa Haka Festival.

Wairarapa REAP schools liaison Trudy Sears said 21 central and southern Wairarapa schools were represented at the event, which pitted groups of students up to Year 8 against one another in traditional Maori action songs and haka.

Featherston School this year hosted the event at the Featherston Anzac Hall and major sponsors included the South Wairarapa Creative Communities and Kokomai Creative Festival Wairarapa, Ms Sears said.

Mary-Ann Newhouse, chairwoman of Featherston School board of trustees and Papawai Marae representative Paora Ammunson shared MC duties at the festival.

Wairarapa REAP had been co-ordinating the event for the past nine years, Ms Sears said, and this year was "the biggest kapa haka festival we've had to date".

She said the event was hosted in alternate years in Masterton and at a South Wairarapa venue and was last hosted in Featherston about five years ago.

"There were kids here very early this morning getting ready.

"The festival really is an occasion for them to take pride in their culture and gives them an opportunity to perform in front of their peers and their family," she said.

"It's very good for their confidence and the variety of songs is getting better and better every year."