A showcase of local artisans with demonstrations, sales and workshops was set to bring people together in Waihī on April 11 for the Arts in Town event.
Formerly known as the Art and Street Festival, the Lions Club of Waihī Community event was previously more like a market with entertainment, committee member Rona Keith said.
“But this year… we wanted to actually showcase people who are teaching or groups that are doing arts and crafts,” she told The Profile.
“So it is kind of like a market, but the focus is on demonstrating, letting people get their hands dirty doing stuff and running workshops.”
Stallholders will pay a fee of $20, and workshops will be run by the stallholders with a charge, depending on materials. However, the rest of the event was free, she said.
“But at the stallholders, some of them are going to have a ‘make and take’,” which was an arts and crafts piece people could make and take away with them, she said.
“If there’s any cost for the make and take, that’s the stallholders dealing with that.
“And the workshops, there’s a ticketing system for the workshops.”
People can check out what workshops are available online through the Humanitix website.
There would also be live music and entertainment for children, she said, as well as several Waihī businesses offering discounts and demonstrations as well.
Stalls would be set up outside too, but would be more of a market stall, so “it’s spilling out past the hall”, she said.
Rona wanted to encourage people to pre-book their tickets now for workshops so the artisans knew how many kits to prepare.
It would be an occasion for people to see what Waihī has to offer, she said.
“I think I’m looking forward to people realizing all the different opportunities in Waihī, that maybe people who have never done anything creative before go, ‘oh, you know, that might be something I’d like to do’,” she said.
DETAILS: Workshop and ticket info: collections.humanitix.com/arts-in-town.
By DAVIDDA HIKATANGATA
