This is a festival of Polynesian culture for high school students. It was a four-day event, held in Auckland. It began on Wednesday with sunny weather for three days but on Saturday, Auckland experienced Cyclone Lusi with heavy rain and strong wind. The final day was therefore postponed until today because of safety concerns caused by the weather. This is the first time in 39 years that there has been a postponement.
The Maori Division 1 stage group, however, was moved to an indoor stadium on Saturday but it was not big enough for all the spectators who wanted to attend.
Polyfest first began in 1976 with 4 schools. However, this year there were 62 schools and 222 cultural groups performing on 6 stages: Cook Island, Maori, Nuie, Samoan, Tongan and a Diversity stage for other cultural groups including Chinese, Korean, and South African. A team of judges awards prizes.
The aim of Polyfest is to encourage students’ pride in their culture. They perform music and dance which show their culture. Students from one Auckland school are the hosts each year.
This year John Key attended on Friday. This is the first time a Prime Minister has attended.
To see images, type polyfest 2014 in google and click on images.