Kaiwaka’s annual Lantern Festival took place on the afternoon and evening of Sunday 23rd June 2024. Attendance this year was up from last year, with around 600 people in total visiting the event. Weather was overcast but without rain, ensuring that all of the planned activities could go ahead on dry ground around the Kaiwaka Sports Association facilities.
The afternoon featured loads of family fun: A treasure hunt captivated youngsters for an hour or so with around 200 “lucky dip” prizes awarded. The gumboot tossing competition was vigorously contested with Cooper Jager winning the under-6 trophy, throwing 11.5 meters, and Callum Alexander taking out the 7 through 12 trophy with his 18 meter throw. The adult class was led by Greg Campbell with an astonishing 26 meter throw, captured on camera.
Other competitions opened up to the musical accompaniment of Happy Fish. Three-legged races were chaotic but thankfully without injuries other than to dignity. The egg-and-spoon races were also a trifle messy, but not as messy as the wildly popular egg toss & catch competition that followed…. Prizes won for all events were donated by local businesses, as were the many offerings on an instant auction table.
The highlight of the evening had to be the creative lanterns, many of which were produced by participants at the lantern workshop table on the day. First prize went to Amara Ashton; prizes for most creative and for best kids lanterns were also awarded.
Moonlight bathed the lantern parade as it wound around Kaiwaka streets. As the procession returned to the pavilion Circus Kumarani kicked off their fire show, drawing a throng of spectators. Hot drinks, hand warming and marshmallow toasting at braziers completed the perfect family outing.
Incredibly generous sponsors from all around the community are too many to list, but are mentioned on the web page at www.lanternfestival.nz.
The date for Kaiwaka’s 2025 Lantern Festival is tentatively set for Saturday 14 June 2025, and planning is set to kick off in a few weeks’ time!
Two weeks later:
Feedback from the community has been pouring in through the weeks since the festival. The games, the music, the lantern competition, and of course the parade all have come in for special commendations. The excellent facilities of the Kaiwaka Sports Association made it possible to comfortably host the event, and to provide bar and food services to suit all needs. Everything went without a single hitch on the day, all thanks to the careful preparations and hard work put in by volunteers. Whilst fund raising was not the intention of the Festival, the event financially came close to break-even once the local business donations, gold-coin donations on the day, and the output from the silent auction were taken into account.
It’s rare these days for a community to come together and put on a free event like this, where pure family fun is the focus. Kaiwaka Can is incorporated as a charitable society, with its purpose being to make Kaiwaka an even better place to live. The Lantern Festival is only one of several Kaiwaka Can projects underway, all of which serve to enhance recreation, lifestyle and social values for the community living in and around our village.
The volunteers who made this year’s event such as great success are meeting next week to kick off the preparations for the 2025 Kaiwaka Lantern Festival. Volunteer help is always welcome! Please get in touch with Pablo Garcia (pablo@pablogarcia.com) if you would like to be involved with this or any of Kaiwaka Can’s other projects.
