Whanganui Festival of Cultures bigger and better

You can sample food from across the globe in Whanganui's Majestic Square.

The Festival of Cultures is on from 10am to 3pm next Saturday (October 27) , with non-stop entertainment and 23 food stalls, Mainstreet Whanganui event, marketing and promotions manager Kelly Scarrow said.

"It's now in its eighth year and our event is getting bigger and better and more reflective of the different cultures within it."

It's a favourite of Scarrow, and she suggests attenders take the opportunity to engage with one another - and try a bit of everything.

It will all be happening outdoors in rain, hail or shine, because the Whanganui War Memorial Centre is closed for earthquake strengthening.

The big two entertainment acts this year are Common Unity, a reggae-based band with ties to Ōhakune, Raetihi and Whanganui, and Palmerston North-based Samba ao Vento. The Samba act is hard to describe, Scarrow said, but remembered for its high energy Brazilian drumming and dancing.

Kapa haka will be provided by Te Taikura o the Awa Tupua, and Pacific dance and music from Fijian, Samoan and Cook Island groups. The chapel choir of St George's Preparatory School and the Te Awa Kids Choir will sing, and there will be Indian, Chinese and Filipino dance.

The food stalls include Indonesian, Sri Lankan, Spanish and South African foods - as well as Kiwi hāngi and pottles of hot chips.

River City Filipino Club at the Festival of Cultures

This year the food waste and most of the takeaway food containers and cutlery can be composted in the Whanganui Resource Recovery Centre's large worm farm.

The festival is one of three pilot events, in which Whanganui Venues & Events partners with the Innocent Packaging company. It supplies food containers made of paper, cardboard, wheat straw and sugar cane fibre, and bamboo cutlery.

The only items that will not be compostable will be coffee cups and straws, Scarrow said, because Innocent cannot supply biodegradable versions.

Food vendors have been excited by the no-waste idea, and many were already thinking along those lines.

The event is funded by Whanganui District Council, the Lotteries Grants Board, the Community Organisations Grants Scheme and Creative Communities.