Appeal for help to revive Festival of Lights

March 15th, 2012
[by David Armstrong]

The call has gone out for enthusiastic people to help organise the winter Festival of Lights, and ensure this enterprising event does not lapse after a year off in 2011.

The celebration of mid-winter, which has been a feature of Motueka's events calendar for several years, was abandoned last year due mainly to the loss of some key committee members. The remaining three committee members have decided to try again this year, offering the basic lights format and hoping that others can come on board to build other aspects of the festival.

They have organised a meeting for Wednesday, March 21st, at 7pm at the Community House, asking people if they are interested in becoming part of the new committee. "To support this great community initiative, it needs some fresh blood," they say.

For people new to Motueka over the past two years, the festival normally runs for one or two weeks, with lights strung along the retail section of High Street and light displays mounted privately by some shops. Many shops took the opportunity to run sales, and Our Town Motueka organised a Market Day to begin the festival.

Specific community events including concerts, competitions, debates and exhibitions were also put on by groups and individuals, offering a range of activities to get people out of their armchairs in mid-winter to mingle and enjoy what the town has to offer. One year a feature was a big fireworks display.

The aim is to lift the town's spirits in the middle of winter and also to promote Motueka to the surrounding area, so that our community and businesses benefit. This year the festival will be held over June 15th - 29th, with a special sale week from June 18th during which cafes and restaurants are being invited to present some special Winter/Christmas fare.

Motueka Online reported in detail on most of the events held in 2010, and you can read about them (including more than 100 photos) by clicking on this link. After the events, there was much discussion about how worthwhile the festival was and whether or not the attendances justified the amount of work put in by organisers. (See the discussion here).

So if you would like to see this event successfully revived and think you could be a member of the team to organise activities for the festival over the next three months or so, then please offer your services to the meeting next week or contact David Ogilvie ( or ), or Jody Maru () to find out more.

Comment by William Cleaver:
[Posted 17 March 2011]

I do hope that the new committee for the festival of lights listens and reads previous comments and suggestion made. My personal choice would be to have the festival over two days Friday evening and Saturday until late. This will allow restaurants and shop owners to light up and possibly theme their stores. Possibly one day specials could entice the locals off their bottoms.

Visitors to the town would increase because the event is over a short period and not stretched over a week. All the eggs in one basket so to speak. With more people in the town our local Sunday Market would get a boost, much needed in the winter. Very much Food For Thought.

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