Napier's Havingaball 2011

View full details of "What's Happening During September & October in Napier"  

Hawke's Bay will host two matches-France Vs Canada and Sept 18 and Canada Vs Japan on Sept 27. Napier is one of eleven destinations within New Zealand to be awarded games so it's a pretty big deal for Hawke's Bay. Now whilst the majority of us will be supporting the All Blacks we need to do our bit to make the other teams feel at home.

We are gearing up for Rugby World Cup 2011 celebrations between 14 and 30 September. The inner city will be divided into quarters - Canadian, French, Japanese and Kiwi. This is not only to welcome the visiting teams and fans but also give locals a taste of these cultures. Scroll down to see the Quarter Areas Map.

The businesses in each quarter will be dressing their shop fronts with flags, bunting, lanterns, etc. There will be buskers and street theatre and different activities in each of the quarters.

In the Kiwi Quarter there will haka and dancing performances, flax weaving and poi making workshops and good old fashioned sheep shearing!

The Japanese Quarter will provide authentic Japanese dancing, martial arts demonstrations, origami workshops and offer Japanese lettering (using traditional calligraphy brushes on rice paper) for those who would like their names written in Japanese.

There will be a 'we've gone loonie' competition in the Canadian Quarter - based on the Canadian one dollar coin which Canadians refer to as a 'loonie' because it has a loon (a well known Canadian bird) on one side. Entries will be posted inside a redwood log cabin which is being built and designed specially for RWC by Easy Bach, to resemble a Canadian cabin.

The French Quarter's celebrations will include a display of French Vintage cars and 'Vin d' honneur' which translated means 'taste the regions wines' with a variety of local wineries offering tastings in selected stores.

And there's more in the pipeline!

The majority of the activities will be geared around the weekends. Dates and times of the various activities will be confirmed and posted in the near future.

For details of "Hawke's Bays Havingaball" & "Real New Zealand" FESTIVALS activities here in  Napier and other areas click here.