Wellington celebrated multicultural diversity in style at the Town Hall on Sunday, August 23.
The city’s mayor, Kerry Prendergast, led several dignitries at the celebrations, deputy mayor Ian Mckinnon, Race Relations Commissioner Joris de Bres, Ambassador for Brazil Renate Stille, Malaysian High Commissioner Dato Hasuddin Hamzah and Datin Rusnah Ismail, Wellington councillor Celia Wade Brown, Minister for Ethnic Affairs Pansy Wong, national president for Ethnic Council Prem Singh.
Ms Prendergast said she was proud she was to be the mayor of a city that was diverse, equal and harmonious.
She said she was happy at being a part of such a diverse community. “Diversity means strength,” she said and provided stats on Wellington being home to people of 85 different ethnic groups.
The celebration was launched by a group of children from diverse cultural backgrounds holding the New Zealand flag on stage while singing the national anthem.
While waiting for VIPs to arrive, the crowd was kept entertained by MC Ravi Kambhoj, Urban Fusion and Linda Chanwari-Earle, and later supported by Access Radio's project manager, Laura Daly.
Kambhoj had the crowd all excited when he invited volunteers to come on stage to learn a few steps of Bollywood dancing. He was joined in by Ms Prendergast, who seemed to have got the moves right.
The event was managed by Ravindran Annamalai, representing Wellington Mutamizh Sangam.