From Napier street party, to Hawke’s Bay Rowing Club, to Bay Cities Symphonic Band, to Matilda the Musical, to huge haul of kiwi eggs, to Breast Cancer Awareness Month, to Hastings Chinese Language Festival, to David Trubridge reforestation event, here are some announcements you might have missed.

Nuit Blanche 2025

Nuit Blanche – Art After Dark is back on Saturday, 4 October 2025, 6-10pm. Touted as Hawke’s Bay’s Biggest Street Party, Right in the Heart of Napier.

The free family-friendly street festival is centred on Tennyson and Hastings Streets in the heart of Napier’s Arts Quarter, creating an immersive, city-wide celebration of art, culture, food, and performance. Highlights include:

• Live music across multiple stages, featuring mostly local musicians 
• Out-of-town buskers from the World Buskers Competition, bringing international flair to Napier
• Open galleries and art studios with hands-on activities for the public
• Food trucks clustered into “eat streets” on Emerson, Hastings, and Herschell

It’s also one of the biggest nights of the year for Napier’s CBD. Many restaurants, bars, and retailers say Nuit Blanche is their busiest trading night, and with support from external funders such as Pub Charity, the event is able to remain free and accessible for the whole community.

Nuit Blanche is a collaboration between Napier City Council and Napier City Business Inc, the inner-city business association. 

Hawke’s Bay Rowing Club

Heaps going on now, from competitions to Quiz Night. And a 150^th Jubilee coming up next April.

Check out the HB Rowing Club newsletter.

Bay Cities Symphonic Band

The Bay Cities’ Symphonic Band is delighted to be celebrating 20 years! 

In 2005 John Snowling – a name synonymous with music and banding in Hawke’s Bay –  initiated a discussion with other like minded individuals to form an independent wind band in Hawke’s Bay, and thus the Bay Cities’ Symphonic Band was established.

The Bay Cities’ Band will be celebrating with a commemoration concert at the Lowe Family Performing Arts Centre, Lindisfarne College, Hastings, at 2pm on Saturday 11th October – with special guests the Concord Symphonic Band.

Following the concert, all current and past players, and supporters of the band are cordially invited to attend a reunion dinner from 4.30pm at the Magdalinos Room, Havelock North Function Centre – to register for the massed band and/or dinner, please visit the band’s facebook page and follow the links.  

Concert tickets $10 from Eventfinda or door sales on the day (Children under 12 free)
Reunion Dinner $25 per person
Registration via www.facebook.com/BayCitiesBand/

Matilda the Musical

Napier Operatic Society brings Matilda the Musical to the stage for 11 performances at the Napier Municipal Theatre from 24 September to 4 October 2025.

Featuring a 55-strong all-local cast and backed by over 100 volunteers, this is the Society’s largest production of the year — and it’s set to delight audiences of all ages.

Based on Roald Dahl’s beloved story and featuring music and lyrics by Tim Minchin, Matilda features iconic songs like Revolting Children and When I Grow Up, dynamic choreography, and high-tech staging. It’s clever, funny, and full of heart.

Tickets available via Ticketek or Napier Municipal Theatre.

Massive haul of kiwi eggs

Staff and volunteers working with the Hawke’s Bay-based Forest Lifeforce Restoration Trust retrieved 46 kiwi eggs over just two nights from nests in the Maungataniwha Native Forest adjacent to Te Urewera. These were delivered to the National Kiwi Hatchery in Rotorua and Save the Kiwi’s Gallagher Kiwi Burrow near Taupō for incubation.

The first batch of 25 eggs from the Trust’s highly successful Maungataniwha Kiwi Programme was retrieved in the evening of 10 September, with a further 21 lifted on 15 September and in the small hours of Tuesday 16. The number of eggs involved meant that, on both occasions, they were transferred by helicopter for the swiftest possible delivery.

The eggs will be incubated at the National Kiwi Hatchery and the Gallagher Kiwi Burrow. The resulting chicks will be reared in protected enclosures until they weigh about one kilogramme, heavy enough to go toe-to-beak with a predator, then released back into the forest from where their eggs were retrieved, or at one of the Trust’s other properties where it is re-establishing a second viable kiwi population.

“This is certainly the most eggs I’ve ever heard of being lifted in a single operation – not once, but twice in as many weeks,” said Forest Lifeforce Restoration Trust kiwi project manager Tamsin Ward-Smith.

More on the Forest Lifeforce Restoration trust here.

Breast Cancer Awareness Month

Hawke’s Bay is set to turn pink this October, sending a message of support and hope during Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

Napier’s Tom Parker Fountain and the Opera House, Municipal Building and Cushing Foyer at Toitoi Hawke’s Bay Arts & Events Centre in Hastings are joining more than 90 sites around the country lighting up in pink as part of the Global Illuminations campaign. This stunning display is helping Breast Cancer Foundation NZ to remind New Zealanders that early detection is the best way to save lives from breast cancer.

The campaign also illuminates the charity’s annual Pink Ribbon Street Appeal, taking place on Friday 17 and Saturday 18 October. Thousands of volunteers will be out in force shaking pink buckets to collect donations for breast cancer research, education campaigns and patient support programmes. 

The Breast Cancer Foundation NZ is still looking for volunteers to take part in its Pink Ribbon Street Appeal. For more information on this and other ways to get involved with Breast Cancer Awareness Month, visit breastcancerfoundation.org.nz/bcam

Hastings hosts Chinese Language Festival

Hastings District Libraries are delighted to host a New Zealand Chinese Language Festival 2025 on Wednesday, 8 October, from 3:30pm at the Hastings War Memorial Library.

This special event has been timed to coincide with the Mid-Autumn Festival, one of the most important cultural celebrations in China.

Hastings shares a long-standing sister city relationship with Guilin, China—a connection that continues to foster cultural exchange, friendship, and mutual understanding. The festival is a celebration of this relationship and the vibrant contributions of Chinese communities to the region.

Festival highlights include:

• Lantern decorating
• Papercutting
• Calligraphy
• Jianzi (Chinese hacky sack)
• Mah-jong demonstration
• Mooncake tasting
• No-bake mooncake making workshop (registration required).

The event is free and open to all ages. For more information and to register for the mooncake workshop, visit www.hastingslibraries.co.nz

David Trubridge invites

David Trubridge is hosting an evening focused on conservation, creativity and community. Films and conservation presentations, nibbles and drinks, and introducing the Dusk Lamp. 

Thursday 2 October, 6pm
Havelock North Community Centre
Free admission/Donation to local reforestation efforts appreciated.