Hundreds to welcome new year at festival
HUNDREDS of people will welcome the new year in an oldfashioned way at the Whare Flat Folk Festival.
Family wagons and vans were lined up down Silverstream Valley Rd eager to set up their tents at Waiora Scout Camp for the multiday festival.
It opened yesterday and will run for four nights.
Site manager Andrew Bowen said the new year would be ushered in with a ceilidh dance, a traditional Gaelic group dance.
No dancing skills were required to take part, but the festival would hold workshops to help get people up to speed.
About 250 people were expected each night, he said.
With Covid removing volunteers and a lead performer, the festival was a bit behind schedule when setting up yesterday, but the weather had been fantastic and it was looking to be a good festival.
One issue was that a truck carrying much of the festival’s equipment rolled on to its side near the campsite.
It had come from Christchurch, but rolled within 2km of the site.
Nobody was hurt in the accident and the only damage was to the mirror ball, Mr Bowen said.
Festival director Stephen Stedman said not having a festival last year had slowed things down, as people were no longer in the annual rhythm.
The festival was mostly run by volunteers and a few had dropped off since the last festival in 2020, he said.
Festival goers had come from all over the country and beyond.
Richard Budd was there with his family, but by the time they were joined by friends there would be 17 people in their group.
He had travelled from Christchurch, others in his family from Wellington and there were even some coming from Australia, he said.
One band playing was Mickey & Michelle, an Australian duo who had made their way down the country on foot.
Harpist Michelle Doyle said they had travelled down the Te Araroa trail, a tour they started in 2019, but it was put on hold by the pandemic.
This year they returned to the track to finish the final 420km of the 3000km trail.
They carried their everyday belongings in large balanced backpacks, but trusted their instruments to strangers they met on the road who would be travelling to the location of their next gig.
After the festival they would make their way to Invercargill to play the final show in their tour, she said.