Northland Kauri festival spreading roots further in 2007

30 April, 2007

DESTINATION NORTHLAND : MEDIA RELEASES 2007

KauriFest, the Northland regional festival celebrating all things kauri, is set to branch out this year with plans to hold cornerstone activities in each district of the region throughout September.

This year's theme – kauri:past, present and future – is being developed into a full programme to highlight the special character of each part of the region.

Event coordinator Paula Cabrera-Crocker said that the festival will encompass arts and culture, food and wine, music and performance, sport, conservation, history and heritage.

“This will be Northland's third Kauri Festival, and we want it to be a platform for celebrating the diversity, creativity and community spirit of Northland”, she added.

Supported by Enterprise Northland through its visitor arm Destination Northland, KauriFest will run from the 8 th to the 30 th of September, with the first cornerstone event planned to ‘kick off' in Whangarei on the first weekend of the Festival.

The cornerstone events will be supported by a range of local activities to be announced soon on the KauriFest official website www.kaurifest.com . The website also invites those interested, to become a member of “Friends of KauriFest”.

KauriFest is the first New Zealand festival in the What's on in New Zealand Spring Festival Campaign being marketed by Tourism New Zealand (TNZ) to overseas travellers, targeting Australia.

Launched last year, this TNZ initiative is already proving to be successful. Figures released by the Ministry of Tourism show a significant increase of Australian visitors to New Zealand from 2005. Also positive is the growing trend from day trips to overnight stays by domestic visitors and statistics show a boost of those in Northland.