A fun event in Kawerau next month will add an extra element to the annual Canoe Slalom New Zealand National Championships.
The FLOWQUEST Fun Day 2017 is a free interactive family fun festival being organised by the town’s youth council. It is on April 15 and will run alongside the slalom event, on from April 14-17. FLOWQUEST Fun Day will give people attending the slalom event a chance to enjoy great family entertainment.
A highlight will be a Youth Café, which offers young people a safe space to meet and share ideas, and potentially gain hospitality and business skills while serving the community. This initiative may lead to the establishment of a permanent youth café; developing such a space is one of the actions laid out in the new Kawerau Youth Strategy.
Other activities include a Giant Easter Hunt, a Nerf War and a Mega Inflatable City and obstacle course provided by Funworks.
In the Easter hunt, painted rocks and stones will be hidden in a closed area. Participants will compete to find and as many as they can in 20 minutes. They can then trade their stones for a small Easter egg. Special stones will be painted different colours and will account for a large Easter egg, and there will be a giant chocolate egg for whoever finds the rare glass black stone.
The Nerf War will feature 10 Capture the Flag games. Briefing and rules will be announced before every game. Each team keeps a flag near their ‘base’. The aim of the game is to take another team’s flag and bring it back to your base. Games have a 20-minute time limit. All Nerf equipment will be provided.
The FLOWQUEST Fun Day event is designed to attract a large number of Kawerau residents, as well as people from the wider Eastern Bay and outside the region. Kawerau District Council youth projects co-ordinator JJ Rika says organisers are expecting a large turn-out to the event, with 70 percent of them children.
“Many people are likely to flow over from the National Canoe Slalom Competition running adjacent to the festival,” he says. “FLOWQUEST Fun Day promises to be a fantastic event and we’re really looking forward to it.”
FLOWQUEST Fun Day is on April 15, from 10am-3pm at the Waterhouse St Reserve.