Light Up Whakatāne Celebrates Biggest Year in Five-Year History

Light Up Whakatāne has recorded its biggest year yet, with organisers estimating that more than 10,000 people attended the free winter festival over eight nights.

Event director Kim Fort said this year's festival exceeded expectations, with strong support from sponsors, community groups, artists, businesses and visitors travelling from across Te Ika-a-Māui.

"It was our best year yet," Fort said.

"The engagement was huge from everybody, from sponsors to partners to the community organisations that run the little leveraged site events, and then the biggest visitors from our drive market."

Because the festival is free, exact attendance figures are not available, but Fort said organisers estimate "more than 10,000 people attended across the eight nights", with the three busiest evenings each attracting between 2,000 and 3,000 people.

"It was remarkable."

Visitors travelled from centres including Taupō, Rotorua, Ōpōtiki and Tauranga, with some families making multiple trips to festival events throughout the week.

Fort said one family from Taupō attended three separate events, including Wheels Night, the illuminated waka display and the parade.

"They really loved that there were multiple events to keep the children entertained over the whole week."

Fort said aligning the festival with Matariki helped boost its profile, with coverage on Breakfast and Seven Sharp helping showcase the event nationally.

She also highlighted the growing number of local artists contributing to the light trail.

"The uptake of the local artists who submitted their works this year in the trail, that's growing, and that's really exciting to see."

"We've got nine-year-olds creating art that's been displayed to thousands of people; I just think that is an amazing opportunity for young artists."

Other highlights included a shortened trail that incorporated the Whakatāne River, and the popular parade night.

"The people who go to such huge effort with their costumes just blew my mind."

"The community interaction and ending at the Atea Night Market was just, it was just such a lovely evening."

Fort said it was also encouraging to see local businesses embracing the festival.

"The Brownie Bar created one-night-only light-up desserts, especially to align with our festival, and had queues down the street."

"That's the sort of thing we want to see; the event is there for everybody to enjoy and leverage and support."

Organisers have confirmed the festival will return and are beginning work on its future after celebrating its fifth year.

"We are going to do a five-year review."

The organising committee and festival partners will meet in the coming weeks to assess this year's event, with public feedback also being sought through an online survey.

"We're going to be putting out a survey on our social media channels and we would really, really appreciate any feedback about the event so that we can throw that all into the mix during our planning and see what our next steps are."

Fort thanked the hundreds of volunteers, supporters and organisations involved in delivering the festival.

"Without the many, many, many hundreds of people who support us, this festival wouldn't be what it is today."