Nepal Festival 2018: A showcase of Nepal’s rich culture in Auckland

The next big event for the community after Diwali is the Nepal Festival 2018 to be held at Aotea Square on Saturday, November 17.

The event is poised to exhibit the rich culture of Nepal that includes music, dance, ethnic dresses, food and the beauty of the Everest. This is the first big outdoor event for the Nepal community as in the previous years the festival has been happening in community centres.

“In the last few years, we have seen a spike in the number of visitors to the event and not just the Nepalese community but the Kiwi, Maori, Chinese and extended Indian community which led us to think and plan for a bigger venue,” President of New Zealand Nepal Society Dinesh Khadka told The Indian Weekender.

The organisers expect a crowd of more than 10,000 people to be present at the mega event at Aotea Square.

The theme of the annual event is ‘One Country, Many Stories’.

“Every country has its story- in the form of art, food and culture and those are the three aspects of our country that we are trying to portray to the New Zealanders and that is the main essence of the Nepal Festival,” Joint Secretary of New Zealand Nepal Society, Prayash Chhetri said.

The event will commence with a cultural parade from Aotea Square to Customs Street and back at 10:30 a.m. and the performers leading the parade will be wearing traditional Nepalese dress, play the drums and Nepalese folk music instruments and through its parade and posters invite people to the event at Aotea Square. The parade will finish at 11:45 a.m. and the main event will start at 12 p.m.

The official opening ceremony of the will be hosted after 12 p.m. followed by cultural performances by local artists. After 3 p.m. the high octane performance by J Geeks will enthral the audience followed by the international troupe Kutumba from Nepal who has done several shows across the globe.

The event will have around 50 dignitaries present for the official ceremony including Mayor Phil Goff, Minister for Ethnic Communities Jenny Salesa, MPs Michael Wood, Priyanca Radhakrishnan, Kanwaljit Bakshi, Dr Parmjit Parmar, Melissa Lee, Simeon Brown, Auckland Police District Commander Karyn Malthus and many more.

The event is supported by a number of Indian community organisations who will also be performing at the event as local talents.