The great Indian Kite festival organised by Vaishnav Parivar (NZ) Inc. is back on Sunday, January 13 at Eastdale Reserve in Avondale.
The festival that is hosted celebrating the occasion of Makar Sankranti attracts more than 8000 people every year and is poised to get even bigger this year.
The organisers have arranged 5000 kites, strings from India that the public can buy from the venue at a nominal price.
“In the last few years, we have seen the community coming to the event not just to fly kites but to have a complete family outing or picnic, and this is what has made Kite Festival bigger every year,” Manhar Patel, president of Vaishnav Parivar (NZ) Inc. said.
The event is very popular amongst young Kiwi Indians, Kiwis, Fiji Indians, Islanders and also residents in the region who come with different designs of kites to fly at the event.
“We start the event around 11 a.m., and the ground gets almost full with families running with their kites by afternoon, especially children who buy and fly multiple kites and camp their tents at with the families,” Mr Patel added.
Besides the kite flying activity, the event will have several food stalls that will sell delicious Indian snacks, kulfi, drinks, tea and lassi for the people. There will be a number of performances on the stage by local artists and dance groups who will entertain the crowd.
“During the event, we get seniors and women of our Gujarati community who start doing the garba near the stage that eventually is joined by over 60 people, all-dancing at once which looks magnificent,” Mr Patel said.
There will be a number of stalls, and sponsored gifts, raffles and lucky draw with different prizes and travel coupons for the winners. There will also be a gazebo at the venue where senior citizens can sit, and relax away from the sun and different drawing, henna and face painting activities will be held for the children. The organisers have also arranged bouncy castles and merry-go-round for the children to play at the venue.
“I invite all my community members, get your families, neighbours and friends to be a part of their great kite festival and make it a grand success once again,” Mr Patel added.