Nothing says spring like the blooming of the kowhai or the opening of scallop season, says Sarah Ell
In the Northern Hemisphere, the arrival of spring is celebrated with bunnies and baby chicks at Easter. But here, there are some uniquely Kiwi festivals to mark the passing of the cold, wet winter and the turning of the seasons in a more optimistic direction.
Scallop Festival
If seafood is your thing, head to Whitianga on the Coromandel for a celebration of all things scallop next weekend. But don't worry if you're one of those poor unfortunates (like me) who can't eat them - there are plenty of alternative delights to enjoy, says events co-ordinator Linda Simonsen. She estimates that about 100,000 of the tasty molluscs will be shucked and sucked down at the festival, all harvested locally and prepared in myriad ways.
The 11th annual event will feature about 60 food and wine stalls, plus local crafts and live entertainment. Celebrity chef Ray McVinnie and 2014 MasterChef winners Karena and Kasey Bird will be giving cooking demonstrations, and entertainment will be provided by several local bands as well as the fire-eating, juggling, unicycle-riding Mullet Man. "It's a festival where you can have food, enjoy local wines, enjoy some music and celebrate spring," Simonsen says.
The popular rugby-sevens-style costume competition will be run again this year, following appearances last year by groups of "prawn stars" and "scally dollies".
Only 5000 tickets to the event are available, with limited gate sales. Simonsen says though the festival is popular with locals, much of the crowd comes from Auckland, the Waikato and Bay of Plenty. "It brings people to town, and once they've been once they definitely come back."
Whitianga Scallop Festival. Photo / Supplied
Whitianga Scallop Festival. Photo / Supplied
Hispanic Spring Festival, Hamilton
Also next Saturday is the multi-cultural celebration of la primavera, to be held at Hamilton Gardens. Commemorating the spring equinox is popular in many Latin American countries, and this is the 12th year the Waikato Grupo Hispano Latino has organised a local festival.
The event includes food stalls, crafts, traditional dancing and music and children's activities, and is open to the whole community.
Patricia Novoa, of the Grupo Hispano Latino and who hails from Mexico, says the event brings together people from Spanish-speaking cultures, from Europe and South America. Novoa says the event and others organised by the group bring together the large but geographically scattered Hispanic community in the Waikato.
"It's increasing a lot too because we are getting a lot of Colombian refugees and also there are some Hispanic people working on farms as well," she says. "We also get people from Auckland who come down to meet other Spanish speakers, and people coming up from Wellington. It's not just for Hispanic people but also for the whole community to come along and learn what we have to offer."
Food will be a major part of the festival, which will begin with a flag parade. Members of the Hispanic community have also got together for working bees to prepare papier-mache and paper decorations for the Hamilton Gardens Pavilion.
"It's a time for all Hispanic people to get together and be proud of who we are," says Novoa. "It's about celebrating spring and making new friends, and celebrating each other, accepting our differences and finding similarities."
Kowhai Festival
One of New Zealand's longest running community festivals, Warkworth's Kowhai Festival, has grown in size along with the town's population over the past 45 years. The festival, timed to coincide with the blossoming of the many beautiful kowhai trees along the Mahurangi River, is a fortnight-long extravaganza of community events, including raft races, heritage events, art exhibitions and a town debate.
The main event is the Huge Day Out on October 17, when the town's main street is closed and filled with stalls and entertainment. This year's theme is Flower Power, with The X Factor finalists Brendon Thomas and the Vibes paying homage to the 60s in their headlining set.
A blossoming kowhai tree. Photo / Supplied
Organising committee member Urs Bauer says the festival is the biggest event on the town's calendar, attracting between 15,000 and 20,000 people.
"With all the other events around, the whole region is involved - everywhere has something going on. We get people coming from Wellsford and Helensville, who are sort of semi-local, then people from Auckland who have holiday homes at Omaha coming along as well."
Tulip Festival
Also in full bloom - hopefully - are the tulips of Rotorua. Last year the bulbous beauties didn't quite come to the party, but organiser Jill Marshall says the 2015 event has been moved slightly later to hopefully coincide with the blossoming of 40,000 tulips around the city.
The Tulip Fest has been greatly expanded since its debut last year, to encompass 10 days worth of spring events around the city.
"Because Rotorua is a thousand feet about sea level, tulips do well in the cold here," Marshall says. "We decided we would celebrate something that was already here, and build something around it with a number of events."
As well as the council tulip plantings in the Government Gardens, Kuirau Park and the main CBD streets, local businesses have been encouraged to plant bulbs and grow tulips. Events include guided tours of local gardens, including gerbera growers Plenty Flora, who have planted a field of 1500 tulips especially for the festival, the Tyburn Monastery at Waikite and the Tree Trust at Tihi-O-Tonga; talks by gardening experts such as Gordon Collier and Ruud Kleinpaste.
The festival also celebrates the city's new Green Corridor - a cycle walk path (mobility scooters welcome too) - with an evening ride from the Arts Village to Kuirau Park, back to the city: enjoy the tulip art installations and night markets (October 8).
On the last day of the festival, Sunday October 11, there will be a family picnic in Government Gardens, including children's entertainment and a scavenger hunt. The kids' holiday programme at the Rotorua Museum will also have a tulip theme.
