Bayjam Festival hits Whitianga
Get a taste of local food and music at Sunday’s event
Bayjam is a family-friendly festival celebrating the best of Coromandel’s vibrant culture and talent, with a focus on melody, taste, and community spirit.
Local music, Coromandel’s artisanal food producers, and the charm of the area’s cafes, bars and businesses will all be showcased. There will be a buskers’ stage as well as the main stage — those performing on the later include Whitianga’s Stu Pedley and Leo Magri of Let’s Go Descarrego! with sweet tunes drawing from long traditions of folk storytelling, rhythm and blues, Brazilian percussion and New Orleans sounds.
Recent school leaver and Ukrainian refugee Keey Fremm will deliver a set at the busker’s stage, a circus performance down the main street, and a gig at the Monkeyhouse Theatre at night.
Keey enjoys circus arts and is a national award-winning composer and a jazz pianist.
As a composer, he has been selected to represent NZ this year at London’s Globe Theatre.
On the food front, Coromandel’s mix of artisanal food producers will ensure kaimoana and plant-based kai and icecream (Lotta Love) will join other offerings on the menu.
Festival goers can also familiarise themselves with locally produced products, as varied as nuts, chilli sauce, sea salt, and honey.
Head to Mercury Bay Museum during Bayjam for a “Those were the Days” celebration — a fun-filled day of old-fashioned games, kauri gum polishing and a chance to make some butter.
Bayjam. Sunday, January 28, from noon. (Auckland Anniversary Weekend) Taylor’s Mistake Reserve and Whitianga town.