Mayor gets his skates on

Published on 05 July 2023

The Mayor skating on the ice rink at Semenoff Stadium held in Whangārei in July 2023.

Mayoral robes might be a bit of a disadvantage in the heat of summer, but not at an ice skating rink in the middle of winter! 

Mayor Vince Cocurullo found the extra insulation (both warmth and crash-padding) to be very helpful when he visited the Whangārei Ice Rink on Friday 30 June 2023. 

The Ice Rink is one of several Puanga Matariki Festival events supported by . The 10m x 20m frozen rink has plenty of space to glide and twirl to your heart's content. 

Puanga Matariki is developing into a major event featuring a series of cultural events held by community groups, marae, clubs, libraries and many others over June and July 2023. 

Events link to Puanga Matariki themes of reflecting on the past, celebrating the present, and looking to the future. 

To get the word out about the festival, our Venues and Events team has collated the events into a list on Puanga Matariki Festival page.

Puanga Matariki Festival

Night Lights Festival, concerts, volunteer activities, tree planting, ice skating, markets and a disco, celestial arts and crafts, sustainability and harvest, storytelling and a hangi meal and cleaning up parts of our District that need some care are all on offer. 

We have also helped fund many of the events including:

  • Matariki at the Planetarium
  • the Ice Rink at the Semenoff Stadium Carpark
  • Matariki @ the Marae (Whakapara)
  • the Ruakākā Matariki Event
  • Sistema's Matariki Concert
  • the Onerahi Community Matariki Event
  • the Puanga Matariki Whanau Day for Matapōuri
  • Ngātiwai hosted Matariki Māori Markets and Celebration. 

It has also supported other events in non-financial ways including the Whangārei Volunteer Fair (Standing On The Shoulders Of Our Ancestors. Recognising Kaimahi Aroha In Our Communities) on 24 June 2023 and the Puanga Matariki Tree Planting events in July 2023. 

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