Auckland's iconic Pasifika event attracts wide interest

Transcript

Organisers are gearing up for this weekend's Pasifika Festival in Auckland, the biggest celebration of Pacific Island culture and heritage in the world.

The Festival producer Stan Wolfgramm, says the 22nd edition of the renowned event is proving as popular as ever.

He told Bridget Tunnicliffe that expanding the festival to two days, which was trialled for the first time last year, was a good move.

STAN WOLFGRAMM: It worked very well for us last year and I think it's something that's always been in the mix anyway about going to two days.  A lot of people put a lot of effort into being part of the festival and so to extend it to two days is really beneficial for everyone.

BRIDGET TUNNICLIFFE: And in terms of the number of performers you have, the number of stages, food and craft stalls, is it on a similar scale to last year?

SW:  It's all bigger! So we had 10 villages last year, this year is the first year we've got Hawaii, an Hawaiian village, so 11 villages we have included Hawaii, also our stall numbers have gone up, this year we are looking around 275 stalls, so again, it's a very popular event.

BT:  Was it a case of a Hawaiian community group in Auckland approaching you to be involved?

SW:  Hawaii has always been involved in the past at a smaller level, they would have performers come out and there has definitely been a lot of interest to expand that into a village. So the community really went looking for support, they got support from the US Embassy, so the US Embassy has supported the Hawaiian village this year and it's great for the community to have that support.

BT:  Is it common to have people come from overseas from the islands to Pasifika?

SW:   Yeah, very much so.  It is an opportunity for lots of people to come from the Pacific to either participate or be with family, there's a lot of coordination between what's going on in the Pacific and what's going on in the Pasifika festival.  Also it's become a bit of an icon for travellers that'll come down from around the World, they do see that the Pasifika festival is on so they try and coordinate their visit so they can be part of the festival.

BT:  Do we see a lot cultures outside of the Pacific community very much interested in the festival?

SW:  Yeah, I mean the core and essence of the festival is about celebrating Pasifika, Pacific culture, Pacific heritage but also it's inclusive, so being inclusive means we have a lot of other cultures and communities that come to celebrate Pasifika with us.

BT:  Still quite unique isn't it to think that this is largest Pacific city in the world and the biggest celebration of Pacific island culture and heritage in the world.

SW:  It is, it's a very unique event, it has been going for 22 years and it did really start as a West Auckland initiative amongst a few community leaders who really wanted to celebrate their heritage as Pacific islanders. Yeah, it's really just grown and it's been so popular, and I think the other thing is New Zealand too, Pasifika is such an important part of New Zealand's identity so it's grown and grown.