Record numbers likely for festival

Te Kura o Hirangi students Hani Prentice (left) and Aria Church grace the invitation sent out for this year's Ngati Tuwharetoa Taiopenga Schools Kapa Haka Festival. Photo / File

Planning is in full swing for the 28th annual Ngati Tuwharetoa Taiopenga Schools Kapa Haka Festival.

The festival on Thursday and Friday is shaping up to be the biggest yet, with a record 63 groups already entered from around the Tuwharetoa rohe (region).

Turangi's Te Kura o Hirangi School is organising the festival for the fourth consecutive year. Members of the five-person organising committee are all teachers who are passionate about kapa haka. They are undaunted at the prospect of catering for the needs of up to 3500 participants from early childhood through to secondary students, kaumatua and spectators.

In fact, principal Henarata Ham said things were running so smoothly their regular meetings were over very quickly.

"Everybody knows what they are doing. These days we are efficient and know what to expect.

"Our aim has been to take the worry off teachers so the only thing they have to concentrate on is getting the kids to the festival."

That includes providing food vouchers to feed the children and helping out with transport costs if necessary. The school's passion for kapa haka, a belief in their event organising skills and the fundraising opportunities it presented, prompted the decision to tender for the two-year contract in 2011/12. They successfully tendered for the contract again in 2013 and Mrs Ham said they would likely put their hat in the ring again for the next two years.

Although it was a big commitment, the festival was a useful fundraiser for the school paying for a multitude of things that would otherwise not be possible.

These days the committee met on an as-needs basis calling on a huge network of expertise and help and reported back on a monthly basis to the executive committee which had representation from all participating schools.

They had even found time to do some fine tuning. This year they were sticking with local contractors for everything from set-up to audio-visual production and traffic management.

Tuwharetoa FM manager Karam Fletcher is MC for this year's event. Local adult kapa haka group Ngauru ki Uta and Te Puku o Te Ika - fourth placegetters in the national secondary schools competition - are guest performers.

All of the 150 students at Te Kura o Hirangi participate and the school has four kapa haka groups taking part this year. Entry is free, thanks to sponsorship by Genesis Energy, Mighty River Power and Ngati Tuwharetoa Trust Board.

The festival at the Taupo Events Centre runs each day from 8am to 5pm.