Cultural festival shines indoors +Photos

South Africans Junay Boshoff (left) and Junine Sanson at the Whanganui Festival of Cultures. Photo/Bevan Conley

Rain forced the Whanganui Festival of Cultures inside, but that didn't stop thousands of people coming along to enjoy food and entertainment from around the world.

Elise Goodge from Mainstreet Wanganui said 5000 people visited the festival on Saturday, which was meant to be held at Majestic Square but had to move to the War Memorial Hall at the last minute.

"Every year we book the War Memorial Hall as a back-up in case the weather turns bad, but this is the first year we've had to use it," Ms Goodge said.

She said she thought the weather might have kept people away but that turned out to not be the case.

"It went really well - the numbers were up by around 1000 from last year."

Nearly 20 nationalities were represented at the festival, in either food or dance. Ms Goodge said she believed one of the key's to the festival's success was its authenticity.

"These people are cooking the same food for the public that they would normally cook only for people of their own ethnic groups. So people got to try authentic Indonesian noodles or Korean meatballs that they wouldn't normally get the opportunity to eat."

Ms Goodge said she was delighted to see the War Memorial Hall packed. "Everyone was dancing, everyone had a smile on their face - which was exactly what we wanted to see," she said.

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South Africans Junay Boshoff (left) and Junine Sanson at the Whanganui Festival of Cultures. Photo/Bevan Conley