Where to celebrate Waitangi Day: 'It's going to be an amazing day':

Paepae in the Park always attracts a good crowd. Photo / File

A day of song in Pātea, free kai and kōrero in Taihape or commemorations with family in Whanganui are the region choices for Waitangi Day on Saturday.

The weather is looking good and all the organisers are taking Covid-19 precautions.

Pātea will again be holding its Paepae in the Park music festival, organising committee chairwoman Melva Tucker said.

It begins at central Memorial Park with a 10am pōwhiri, and continues with music through the day. Pātea's taikura group, the Pātea Māori Club and Aotea Utanganui will perform, with other Taranaki talent.

Taiaroa Neho will again be MC.

The headline group is The Harmonic Resonators, from Tauranga. They start at 4.15pm and perform covers of Māori songs, sometimes adding yodelling.

There will be 31 food stalls, including hāngi and Greek and Turkish fare, craft stalls and artwork to see in the Hunter Shaw building.

The Mōkai Pātea Waitangi Day Big Day Out, like Paepae, is an alcohol and smokefree event. It starts in the Kokako St hall at 1pm.

It's organised by Mōkai Pātea Services, an iwi-mandated health and social services organisation for the four iwi at the northern end of Rangitīkei. The trust has been holding Waitangi events for about the last 10 years.

Everyone is welcome, Mōkai Pātea Services general manager Tracey Hiroa said. She is a Rangitīkei councillor and has invited others from the council.

"We will feed people. We will manaaki people. We have entertainment.

"It's about us celebrating our nationhood, celebrating Waitangi and talking to people about what does it mean. There will be conversations going on throughout the day."

The MCs and entertainers are brothers Ruia and Ranea Aperahama, who were brought up at Rātana Pā but have family connections in Taihape.

It will be a fun day, Hiroa said, with lots of different things happening for everyone, from youth to kaumātua. There will be a bouncy castle for children to play on, and information about health and social services.

It isn't all about fundraising.

"It's about the organisation, the iwi giving back to our people. There's no cost, no fundraising, nothing is going to be sold."

The Taihape event is funded by grants from the Ministry for Culture and Heritage and Te Puni Kokiri/The Ministry of Maōri Development, and by Mōkai Pātea Services.

The Whakawhanake group which usually organises Waitangi commemorations at Pākaitore/Moutoa Gardens decided not to this year. Spokeswoman Kiri Wilson said it's a day when a lot of other people will be in town, bringing increased Covid-19 danger.

"There are other big events that weekend, bringing people from all over the country. We quite often draw people who would be considered in a high risk category."

Whakawhanake had been planning to organise an event.

"We just had to make a call really. We decided [not holding an event] was the best thing to do."