March 09, 2023
Smoke, fire and Turkish delight for Polyfest
A chemical explosion couldn’t stop Tamaki Makaurau’s much anticipated, much delayed, annual secondary schools’ cultural festival coming back.
Polyfest director Seuli Terri Leo-Mauu says despite heavy traffic caused by the fire in a chemical truck nearby, yesterday’s powhiri went off without a hitch.
With the Maori stage delayed until next month to allow some performers to recover from Te Matatini, festival goers can get their fill of culture at the Samoan, Tongan, Niuean, Cook Islands and diversity stages.
“We’ve got our first Turkish group coming in this year on the diversity stage. We’ve got an Aboriginal group from Australia to perform during the breaks. We’ve got a fire dance group coming from Hawaii. We also like to celebrate non-Pacific and non-Maori as well because a lot of our kids are quite blended,” Ms Leo-Mauu says.
Polyfest part one runs until Saturday, and the Māori stage will run from April 3 to 5 at the Manukau Sports Bowl.