Kuia Julie Ranginui, who is in her eighties, fought off tears because the day brought back memories of her old people.
She liked the way it brought together people from the whole length of the river.
"They're all being bonded together with what's happening today."
And she said that unity extended to others as well. In the past elders had frowned on people from elsewhere using the river. She remembered her own grandmother's panic when a jetboat went by as she was throwing in a line to fish for eels.
In those days the thinking was always: "I am the river and the river is me". Education and increased use of the river had changed the attitude to "I am the river and the river is ours".
