Hamilton Summer in Garden Place finale a success
Hamilton was all go Saturday night when the Summer in Garden Place programme came to an end with the Twilight Kids Festival.
There was no shortage of Hamilton pride at the Summer in Garden Place Twilight Carnival last night.
The event that featured everything from merry go-rounds to fire dancers was put on completely free of charge to the public.
Space manager for Garden Place, Rangi Pou, 22, who has spent the past four months organising the Summer in Garden Place programme said it had all been worth it.
“I’ve spent hundreds and hundreds of hours planning it all. [It’s a] high stress, high-wired job but after tonight it’s all been worth it,” Pou said.
Pou said the positive feedback has been really great and the biggest question he has been asked is if the carnival is going to be an annual event.
“I can’t say it is, I can’t say it isn’t but what I can say is that after this we’ll have a massive debrief and decide where we want to go with this next year,” he said. “But Hamilton needs events like these for ourselves. One it brings communities in and two it makes people want to actually live in Hamilton and not want to run it down.”
The Summer in Gardens Place team “buddied up” with organisations such as the Hamilton Central Businesses Association and Zeal and Pou credits them to helping make the night a success.
Zeal is not-for-profit creative arts organisation and has been heavily involved with the running of the summer programme.
Event coordinator for Zeal, James Wotton says it has been awesome to be part of the event.
“Kids have been stoked to be doing something and having something free or for a couple of dollars to do on the weekend. We always hear how boring Hamilton is when really there’s a lot going on.”
Grace Jones was part of the team from Calvary Chapel Church who put on free sausages and Easter eggs.
“We came with 700 sausages and a whole sack of onions and we’re going to get more. Everyone loves something free and decent free things too. It’s so rad though to be a part it,” she said. “I’ll be giving out Easter eggs for a while but I’ll definitely find time to get my face painted and have a wee dance.”
Students from Sir George Seymour College kept kids entertained by putting on a dunking pool.
Jesse Pompey lost track of how many times he had fallen into the pool of water.
“So, so many times. Easily over a dozen, many times over a dozen actually. But it’s heaps of fun,” Pompey said.
The carnival, which drew a crowd of thousands, also featured local band The Latest Fallout, a free photo booth, a night market and Japanese drumming performances.
