In its 23rd year, this year's Multicultural Tauranga Festival is shaping up as one of the biggest yet!

The festival returns this Saturday, March 18, at the Historic Village – and aligns with Race Unity Day in Aotearoa with the theme ‘Awhihi Te Rito - Nurture the Young'.

'I think this year's theme is very relevant because I feel the youth are our future and so I think it's really good to nurture the values of diversity and inclusion in children and the embracing of other cultures,” says Multicultural Tauranga president Premila D'Mello.

Cancelled last year due to Covid, she's hoping for 5000-6000 people to attend this weekend, with 30 groups of performers showing off their culture alone. 'The ethnic communities are participating a lot more so they feel very encouraged. For me the biggest thing is for the festival to come alive and people getting together and embracing each other's culture joyfully – that's really important.”

Many performances will be by college students and children, marking the youth theme. There will a variety of food stalls, arts and craft stall.

'The Historic Village will be buzzing with the sights, sounds and smells of the world.”

Discovery tents will be set up by local Indonesian, Sri Lankan, Filipino and Chinese communities for people to learn more about the cultures. 'The purpose of the festival is to build better understanding between cultures and to make our vision of having a community where people of all cultures live in harmony come true,” says Premila.

The festival is 10am-5pm Saturday, March 18, at the Historic Village, 17th Ave. Gold coin entry.