The Tauranga Multicultural Festival was held on the 20 March at the Historic Village.

It was an excellent opportunity for migrants to celebrate their cultural identity, and it allowed locals to discover more about other people and their cultures that live in their community. The festival was full of an array of performances, delicious aromas, along with many interactive stalls allowing us to get a taste of the different cultures and knowledge across the world.

The Parade of Nations was a colourful parade of flag-bearing community members. We had student representatives from our school marching for Tonga, Pakistan, Japan, Poland, and many more countries!  We also had three groups that performed at the event, including a Pasifika dance, Chinese dance and song, as well as an Indian dance.

Nichola Li
Deputy Head Girl Arts

"This was my first time going to the annual Tauranga Multicultural Festival and honestly it was such a wonderful experience. The day was filled with amazing performances from all sorts of different countries, which absolutely blew my mind to see how much cultural diversity there is in the Bay. There were also a variety of different foods for sale which definitely made the day even better. I'm beyond grateful for the opportunity to attend and perform at the festival. #Covid won't stop us." - Nancy Yang (Year 11)

“The Multicultural festival was a great experience for the Pasifika girls to embrace their culture. For some of us it was our first time learning a Tongan and Kiribati dance and they said “it was difficult at first however, we were so happy with what we brought to the stage''. We are super excited for many more festivals to come so we can perform together again.” 
Kalolaine Afu (Year 13)

“The event was packed with lots of people who were either at the food courts or enjoying a range of different performances. It was really cool to see many people from the audience that did not hesitate to have a dance and interact with the performers. Overall it was a really good experience.”
Ahaana Narang (Year 9)