Festival to appeal to mixed appetites
Plans for Palmerston North’s Festival of Cultures this year involve putting more culture back into the festival.
The 2015 festival drew criticism from parts of the city’s multicultural community for allowing commercial food trucks to crowd out smaller ethnic offerings.
But this year the organisation of the event has been brought back under the city council’s wing.
Community engagement manager Ian Littleworth said the Manawatu Multicultural Council had been closely involved along the way, and its spokeswoman Angela Joblin said the interaction had been a lot better this year.
While the main event runs over three days, March 3 to 5, the event has been strengthened with a range of activities starting from February 22.
The Lantern Parade, one of the key features, will be held on March 3 with events running from 7pm until dark in The Square.
Giant rooster and monkey lanterns created by volunteers will be new attractions in this year’s parade.
Lantern-making workshops have been held in the lead up to the festival, turning out an array of bright, colourful characters.
Four more lantern workshops remain before the festival.
March 4 is primarily about food, starting with an opening ceremony attended by various embassy representatives, and punctuated by non-stop entertainment and more than 80 cultural food and craft stalls in The Square from 10am to 4pm.
March 5’s programme moves to Te Manawa and The Globe, where one of the highlights will be the Manawatu Multicultural Centre’s ‘‘Multi-clothes for Multi-people’’ fashion show and wearable arts display.
The programme picks up pace from February 25, when there is a Rangoli Art workshop at Youth Space exploring the colourful techniques for indoor and outdoor floor art.