Waitangi Festival 2008

The celebrations leading up to Waitangi Day have expanded this year and include free family activities and concerts.

The traditional family fun day will be held on Sunday 3 February, with free organised activities and good-natured competitions on the Waitangi Green. The kapa haka group of the Royal New Zealand Navy will also perform.

On the Monday, the Navy Band will rehearse the formal Beat Retreat at noon on the historic precinct of the Treaty Grounds. Archive films will also be shown, giving a rare opportunity to revisit the ceremony that was once common, and which has been returning to the celebrations over the last couple of years. At 6:30pm Ray Woolf performs a free evening concert on the Hobson's Beach stage. All welcome, but no alcohol allowed.

On Tuesday the Navy kapa haka group will join the daytime activities. Over both days colonial costumes will be seen around the Treaty House and gardens, while flax weaving and traditional arts will be demonstrated, showing off the cultures of both Treaty partners. At 5.15pm on Tuesday evening the Governor General will take the salute at ceremonial sunset, as the Naval Royal Guard and band enacts the full Beat Retreat ceremony by the flagstaff. Then at 7pm, popular funk & reggae group 1814 take the Hobson's Beach stage. Again, alcohol and drugs strictly prohibited.

Event listed by WaitangiTrust

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