Carla Donson, founder and co-ordinator of La Fiesta!
Congratulations to everyone working in the events management space for all that you do behind the scenes to bring a dynamic array of activities and attractions to life for us all to enjoy, especially during summer.
We all know how fortunate we are here in Aotearoa New Zealand to be able to attend concerts, festivals, sports events and community activities while much of the world experiences another Covid-19 lockdown. Many an envious eye has been cast our way from afar as our lives appear to have returned to "normal".
I think most of us appreciate the position we find ourselves in, with many entertainers and sports stars almost apologising in their social media posts that they are able to perform again in front of a real-life audience. With continued efforts, here's hoping that we can maintain our position, with positive cases of Covid-19 arriving on our shores remaining within managed isolation through the recovery stage. Let's keep doing our bit with our scanning of QR codes or signing registers while we are out and about.
With the challenges of 2020 still at the forefront of our minds, it has been a summer of travel, adventure, and gratitude. Attending events is one way that we can collectively reclaim a sense of normality in our lives, as well as enjoying the opportunity to celebrate and have fun with our nearest and dearest. There are certainly lots of opportunities to do that here in our awesome Whanganui city and district this summer. The events just keep rolling along.
As the founder and co-ordinator of NZ's best (and only women's fest, La Fiesta, I )appreciate just how much administration and organisation goes on behind the scenes to make things happen. La Fiesta comes together as a month-long festival each February and March. It is the culmination of work that begins the previous June marketing the event and inviting participation from festival partners the country over.
This year we have people coming from Auckland, Tauranga, Taranaki and Nelson to run events/perform during La Fiesta. They love the festival kaupapa as well as the chance to visit Whanganui.
Locals love it too! Festival number 12 is our largest ever, with more than 100 events listed, and almost 70 different festival partners. As I chatted with people during the co-ordination phase, so many of them expressed how much 2020 had reminded them of the vitality of community connection. This was significant to their desire to get involved with La Fiesta. A chance to get in behind a grassroots event that enables a whole host of diverse people to showcase what they do.
A stalwart of the tourism sector for more than two decades here in Whanganui has often said to me that he believes La Fiesta is the best example of a community events programme on our calendar. It enables anybody and everybody to run an event and participate, and no two festivals are ever the same. That's high praise that I'm happy to receive with grace and gratitude. It also brings a significant amount of visitation to Whanganui, with international visitors travelling to NZ specifically for the festival in previous years. Over the course of the first 11 years, La Fiesta has attracted participation from almost 24,000 people.
Thank you to everyone who is running or partnering in a festival event, providing a venue, sponsoring, or supporting it in some way. Special thanks to our media partners for devoting time and newspaper space to La Fiesta, you are such an important part of our community connection. After all, it is the community that enables La Fiesta to come alive.
Festival guides and posters are in circulation now if you want to get your hands on a hard copy. Otherwise you can download a festival guide from the website, lafiestanz.com or via our La Fiesta NZ Facebook page, as well as our Women's Network Whanganui Facebook and Instagram pages. Feel free to drop me a line if you'd like to know more about events in the festival: womnet.whanganui@gmail.com
