New Zealand's biggest one-day festival - the Pasifika Festival - celebrated its 10th anniversary in March.

The Pasifika Festival has become a significant feature on Auckland's calendar of events, drawing more than 120,000 people and hundreds of performers from around the Pacific.

As usual music was at the forefront of the festival, with a diverse range of local talent performing including King Kapisi, Che Fu, Annie Crummer, members of Ma'V'elle, the Yandall Sisters, Fou Nature and Lindahe from Oplom Productions.

Pasifika 2002 featured four stages (contemporary, cultural, children's and arts), a range of feature tents, an arts arena and a family area.

Festival organisers said that the soul of the festival is the community. An estimated 308 stallholders sold food, drink, arts and crafts. Of this, 288 stalls were community fundraising and family stalls and 20 were business stalls.

"The community's involvement and participation in Pasifika is just as essential now as it was 10 years ago," said Ayliss Ripley, Project Manager for 2002. "This day is all about celebrating community."

Many people travel long distances for Pasifika. Some people have been known to come from as far away as Kaitaia and Palmerston North for generous helpings of home-cooked island foods such as coconut buns, chop suey, Cook Island dough-nuts and poke.

Others have been budgeting for months in order to buy some of the wide range of original visual art and hand-made crafts sold at the festival. These vary in price from cheap to very expensive.

A popular attraction at Pasifika is its interactive cultural village showcasing the unique arts, crafts, performances, storytelling, ceremonial displays and food from New Zealand, Cook Islands, Niue, Fiji, Tonga, Samoa, Tuvalu and Kiribati.

A new festival event was the Pasifika Festival Opening Night that public attended. The interactive arts arena was also new and featured live workshops by Cook Islands visual artist, Sylvia Marsters, and a 'hiapo' making workshop with Tongan artist, Stone Maka.

For a bit of nostalgia, the history of Pasifika was viewed in the Pasifika Festival History tent. With ten years behind it, this festival had a lot to show and tell. Punters were able to browse through old photographs and watch historical video footage, interviews and performances. Since the festival began in 1993, the numbers of visitors to the festival has quadrupled.

This staggering growth in popularity has earned the festival several awards including the Creative NZ Creative Places Awards: Festival Category last year. With crowd numbers that exceeded 120,000, people were urged to take public transport to the festival rather than their cars.
 

"Using public transport will help keep traffic congestion down," said Event Organiser, Ayliss Ripley. "Our aim is to keep the vehicular traffic and foot traffic moving, making the day more enjoyable for everyone."

For more information check out Pasifika's website at www.akcit.govt.nz/pasifika.

Pasifika Festival Opening Night Friday 8 March 2002 7.30 pm - 9.00 pm Western Springs Lakeside Auckland FREE ENTRY AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC Includes special guests and a spectacular South Pacific performance.

Pasifika Festival 2002 Saturday 9 March 2002 9.00 am - 6.00 pm Western Springs Lakeside and Stadium Auckland FREE ENTRY.

Contacts: Ayliss Ripley, Event Organiser (09) 353 9557 Diane Whisker-Field, Event Publicist (09) 353 9583 or 025 376 036.
 

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