Celebrating all things kauri

26 August, 2005

ENTERPRISE NORTHLAND : MEDIA RELEASES 2005

The inaugural Kauri Festival will celebrate all things kauri with over 30 events running throughout Northland at the end of September.

The festival is about celebrating and honouring a New Zealand icon – the kauri tree. It aims to highlight the large number of opportunities right across Northland to experience kauri both within and outside the forests.

Running from September 19 to October 2 the festival offers a wide range of activities for every interest, including a main street kauri parade in Dargaville, a kauri photo competition, kauri art displays and kauri chainsaw carving, to name a few.

Festival committee spokesperson Tara Rowe says the celebration is an ideal way to highlight the importance of kauri. “T he event has attracted wide interest from businesses and groups across the region. The success of this year's Northland Kauri brochure inspired many ideas, and the opportunity to host a regional event creates benefits to the economy in terms of attracting people to Northland. It's a unique festival that almost everyone can relate to in some way”.

The Northland Kauri brochure, which was launched in June this year, includes a foldout information map which tells the story of Northland from the viewpoint of a 2000 year old kauri tree. The map includes an operator directory that guides visitors around the region.

The Kauri Festival is the first and largest kauri celebration in New Zealand and has been organised by a committee of key industry stakeholders including the Kauri Museum , Direction Dargaville, Destination Northland and Enterprise Northland.

“The festival committee members represent the people of Northland who stood up and wanted to celebrate the importance of the kauri tree as part of our regional identity and to take ownership of the kauri,” says Tara.

The Ancient Kauri Kingdom (Northland's Regional Business of the Year 2004) is one of the venues hosting an event (carving demonstrations) during the festival. Co-Director Alan Perkinson says the festival is about claiming kauri as our own.

“There are small pockets of kauri elsewhere but this is the home of kauri and we need to claim it as our own brand and show the country what it's about,” he says.

A map of the venues and a festival calendar provide an easy reference for visitors and locals who want something different to do during the school holidays, or a fun and interesting way to see Northland. Festival calendars are available on www.northlandnz.com