The city known for its art deco history revived its famous festival this weekend. Napier’s annual celebration of the culture skipped a year because of Covid-19 and returned on a smaller scale.
It’s the biggest weekend of the year for Hawke’s Bay and organisers were determined the event still went ahead at any size.
Art Deco Festival Director Greg Howie said it was great they were still able to run over 50 events.
“We were prepared for it to go head in Green, go ahead in Orange, or to go ahead in Red. Although it was unfortunate we went into Red one month out, we were prepared to kick into gear,” Howie said.
The weekend commemorates the 1931 Hawke's Bay earthquake that flattened the city leading to the rebuild of the region with art deco architecture.
The years that followed led to Napier claiming to be the Art Deco Capital of the World.
The rebuild also created a space where Toi Deco Māori had a place to shine in the public realm.
Māori historian Charles Ropitini says It’s very rare to have Māori art built into mainstream architecture.
“Art deco as a style borrows indigenous art motif from around the world, we see the presences of Mayan revival and Egyptian motif so why not celebrate Māori art deco and the foresight of our ancestors to include Māori motif into the rebuild of Napier.
“On the guided building tour people will see kowhaiwhai and our carved arts, we tell the story of what the designs mean and ultimately we uplift their cultural maturate to appreciate what they see,” Ropitini said.
The trademark larger public events like the street parade were cancelled this year, leaving a space for new events to take centre stage.
One of the new popular events was the garden tour and live show of Alice in wonderland.
Preparation are underway for the next winter art deco festival weekend.
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