18 May 2022 - 0 Comments

Upwards of 3500 people are expected to attend the #HīkoiTo100 Music Festival in Awanui on Saturday 21 May in what will be the first large scale music festival to be held in Aotearoa since the Omicron outbreak.

The festival celebrates the success of the Ngāti Kuri COVID-19 vaccination drive that was held over summer to boost iwi resilience.

Sheridan Waitai, Ngāti Kuri Trust Board Executive Director, says, “The festival is a celebration and recognition of all the mahi aroha given by our people in our communities over the past 2 years of COVID in our lives, it has been a huge and at times heavy journey. All the hard work done by so many over and above what has been required of them in their own workplaces, we have all done this to make sure our people and community are safe.  We want to celebrate this with our whanau who pushed past their fears,  and got vaccinated for each other. Therefore we are now able to open up spaces to share again, this has been our hīkoi to safety”. 

Headline acts include: Tomorrow People, 1814, Ladi6, Che Fu and Savage, along with local favourites, Papa’s Pack, Creative Natives and many more.

Local food and clothing stalls will also be onsite, allowing festival goers to give back to local businesses who felt the impact of the countless lockdowns over the last two years.

Ngāti Kuri were encouraged to go ahead with the festival, by the increase in vaccination rates, which are significantly up since the #HīkoiTo100 campaign was first announced last December. The rohe recently recorded a 90% first dose vaccination rate, with second doses sitting at 88%. 

The focus now turns to increasing booster shot rates which currently sit at 64% and Ngāti Kuri is encouraging all uri aged 18 and over who have been fully vaccinated for at least 4 months to get a free booster now.

The festival will run from 12pm to 9pm at the Awanui RFC and Sporting Complex. Information on The #HīkoiTo100 Music Festival is available at hikoito100.com.

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