In the summer of 2024 we put together our first Taiari Wai festival, as a way to showcase our region, our waterways and our project but also as a way to thank our community who have supported us from the outset.  

With 2.5 years left of our project life (we are hopeful we will continue) and with the experience of our communications manager we wanted to put on a community day and came up with the concept of a summers afternoon with music, food and education about our unique and internationally significant scroll plain.
 

The festival featured local artists from across Otago, with food vendors in the village of Pātearoa, on the site of the old local school, from which we now operate our nursery and project administration.
 

On the day we had extreme wind, and it was questioned as to whether we would go ahead.  And with a break we are thrilled we did. 

Our goal is that over time, the festival will be an annual event that links communities up and down the Taieri/Taiari river, from Dunedin to Paerau.

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