Prepping for Pasifika Festival
Tips for having your best Pasifika Festival experience
SUMMARY
• The 26th Pasifika Festival takes place at Western Spring Park on Saturday, 24 and Sunday, 25 March
• The festival goes ahead rain or shine
• Western Springs Park is well-served by public transport services, close to the Northwestern Cycleway, and local
schools offer paid parking as fundraising activities
• There is also free parking at Unitec and a free shuttle bus between Carrington Rd and the park.
The Pasifika Festival takes over Western Springs Park this weekend, the 26th annual showcase and celebration of
Auckland’s Pacific Island cultures and communities (9am – 5pm Saturday, 24 March and 10am – 4pm Sunday, 25 March).
The festival goes ahead rain or shine – this is Auckland and the weather is changeable, so bring sunscreen, a hat and a
raincoat.
With tens of thousands of people expected to attend the two-day festival, parking restrictions and road closures in
place, the surrounding area will be busy and parking will be in high demand so plan ahead for your travel to and from
the event.
Western Springs Park is close to the Northwestern Cycleway and is well-served by public transport services, operating on
the regular bus and train weekend timetables. Multiple bus routes stop on Great North Rd, next to Western Springs Park,
which is also a 30-minute walk from Morningside or Baldwin Ave Station on the Western Train Line. Plan your journey at https://at.govt.nz/bus-train-ferry/events/pasifika-2018/.
Pasadena Intermediate School and Western Springs College have paid parking available on their school fields as
fundraising activities. Parking is $10 per car, cash only. Mobility parking and drop off is along Motions Rd.
There is also free parking at Unitec and a free shuttle bus between Carrington Rd and the park, at 30-minute intervals.
For newcomers to the festival, Pasifika has 11 distinctly different villages, each with a performance stage and market
stalls selling dishes and crafts unique to the village’s culture. The villages represent the Cook Islands, Fiji, Niue,
Aotearoa, Hawaii, Kiribati, Samoa, Tahiti, Tuvalu, Tonga and Tokelau.
The festival is free to enter, with lots of free activities and live entertainment. There are food, craft and retail
stalls where festival-goers can buy authentic food, clothing, traditional arts and crafts, food stuffs, skin care,
novelties and souvenirs. Pasifika Festival sponsors offer a range of activities, competitions and giveaways.
Bring some cash - some food stalls have EFTPOS, but many only take cash. There are three ATMs on-site at the park,
marked on the festival map, but be patient – there may be queues as they will be in high demand.
To find your way around the festival, there are wayfinding towers and large-scale fixed maps, maps available from
volunteers and at the festival’s three information tents, online at www.aucklandnz.com/pasifika or on the Pasifika mobile site. To access the mobile site, text ‘Pasifika’ to 332 to receive a unique link to the 2018
Pasifika Festival mobile site*, powered by Spark, featuring highlights, tips and an interactive festival map (or visit aucklandnz.com/pasifika). * Standard text rates and terms and conditions apply. See https://www.spark.co.nz/privacypolicy for full Ts
#VectorLights is supporting the Pasifika Festival, lighting up the Auckland Harbour Bridge with a regular light show
from Thursday 22 March – Tuesday 27 March. The show will run every 30 minutes from 8pm. Vector Lights is part of a smart
energy partnership between Vector and Auckland Council in collaboration with the NZ Transport Agency, the guiding light
toward a smart energy future.
The Pasifika Festival is organised by Auckland Tourism, Events and Economic Development (ATEED) on behalf of Auckland
Council, in partnership with the Pasifika Village Coordinators, who represent the different communities and guide the
cultural integrity of the festival.
Pasifika is sponsored and supported by AMI, Vector Lights, Western Union, Mai FM, Spark, New Zealand Post, Air New
Zealand, Edgewater Resort, Resene, Pacific Media Network, University of Otago, Ministry of Business, Innovation and
Employment, Ministry of Health, Ministry for Pacific Peoples, Department of Internal Affairs, Te Wananga o Aoteoroa,
BCITO.
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