Pasifika Festival

Pacific Trade Invest (PTI) NZ is working in association with Auckland Tourism, Events and Economic Development (ATEED), an organisation of the Auckland Council, to create the Pacific Hub that will host exporting companies from Fiji, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Samoa, Tonga, the Cook Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia and Palau.

Though PTI has hosted Pacific companies at Pasifika since 2016, stalls of PTI-hosted companies tended to be scattered across the ‘villages’ throughout the sprawling Western Springs property.

Hundreds attended the event on the waterfront's Odlin Plaza, where Pacific food and hand-made crafts were sold and community groups performed.

Celebrations ended with performances from award-winning Niuean artist Tommy Nee and internationally-known reggae star, George Veikoso, also known as Fiji. 

The festival was MC'ed by Tofiga Fepulea'i from the comedy duo the Laughing Samoans.

It will be held at Odlins Plaza on the waterfront and feature performances by traditional and contemporary Pacific artists.

There will also be traditional pacific food, including a Pacific Island Cook-Off and a range of family-friendly activities.

The festival will be MCed by Tofiga Fepulea'i a former member of the comedy duo the Laughing Samoans.

The Wellington council says it is an opportunity for all Pacific people to celebrate and share their knowledge, values and beliefs.

The Wellington Pasifika Festival runs from 12 noon until 6pm.

Leilani Sio got the idea rolling with an online boosted campaign to help fund their involvement in next month's festival, receiving just over $2500 from donors, including Green MP Jan Logie.

Sio says the Pacific rainbow community has been absent in the big Pacific festivals for too long.

"I just had the idea that I think it would be important to actually participate in a Pasifika festival. They've been happening for more than two decades around Aotearoa and one thing that stuck out was the lack of representation as far as Rainbow Pasifika goes."

Every generation that has been a part of the festival over the years reflects the changing faces of what remains the largest Pacific Island cultural festival in the world.

This weekend's 25th anniversary is, not only a testament to the festival's longevity, but it also told a story of the multiple generations in many families who have been a part of the Pasifika experience since it began.

Tua, a local Cook Islander who migrated to New Zealand more than 40 years ago is no stranger to the festival.

The sound of drum beats, ukuleles and beautiful Pacific voices filled the air for the 25th Pasifika to be held in the city.

RNZ reports people from all ethnic backgrounds and ages were at Western Springs taking in the atmosphere wandering through the 11 Pasifika villages that each represent a Pacific nation, along the winding pathways and lakes of Western Springs Park.

Any unsuspecting visitors to the park would be forgiven for thinking they had somehow been transported to a far-flung Pacific destination.

Its goal is to better the welfare of the youth in Tonga through programmes that foster responsibility, citizenship, community service and leadership.

The TNYC, established in 1991, is the biggest local NGO with offices in the six main islands. As well as sports, environmental awareness, education, health and mental wellbeing, TNYC also focuses on entrepreneurship, vocations and careers.

One of the areas it is actively involved in is helping youth to set up agricultural activities and projects from which they can benefit.

Cathliro Commodities Development Limited (CCDL) is attending Auckland’s Pasifika Festival under the Pacific Islands Trade & Invest (PT&I) Pacific Path to Market programme.

PT&I hosted its Pacific Path to Market programme in the Solomon Islands last year and from the workshops identified a group of companies capable of exporting to New Zealand.

CCDL is a cocoa producing company, locally owned and managed by Diana Yates.   The company has been in operation for 6 years.  It has 30 employees. Its main business activity is exporting cocoa beans to Malaysia.

The businesses are from countries far and wide across the Pacific: from the Republic of Marshall Islands, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu to Fiji, Samoa and Tonga. Everything from kava to ukuleles and taro cookies to exotic Bilum wear will be on show at the festival, which celebrates its 25th anniversary this year.

Billed as the world’s largest Polynesian festival showcasing its culture, food, music and merchandise, this year the event returns to the city’s picturesque and popular Western Springs venue – the festival’s traditional home. (Last year it was moved to South Auckland as a precaution against a biosecurity measure that was operating at the time around Western Springs.) More than 100,000 visitors are expected to throng the festival over this weekend (March 12-13).