Free whānau festival takes over The Cloud this long weekend

June 2, 2021

Panuku Development Auckland, General Collective and Interesting Things have collaborated to bring The General Collective Queen’s Birthday Market & Whānau Festival to Tāmaki Makaurau this long weekend – an exciting two-day event with free entertainment, live music, creative workshops, great food and of course New Zealand’s best market.

Rose Barbarich, Founder of General Collective says her team have pulled together a really interesting line-up of creatives and designers for this very special market.

“New Zealand’s creative community is on fire at the moment and we are seeing lots of exciting new brands emerging with innovative and clever products. We also have our much-loved regulars who always draw a crowd. This event isn’t just for mums and dads with kids, it’s for everyone – we’re creating a space for our community to come together, bring their families along, meet up with friends and enjoy a great day out,” she says.

For the blokes – Zorilla Limited stock New Zealand’s most extensive range of men’s cosmetics and skincare, along with cruelty-free deodorants and solid cologne produced right here in Aotearoa. For the style conscious – Me & The Brave will be there with their on-point wide brim Charlie and Don hats. For the arty types – Stu from Duval Creative Ltd will have a range of stunning hand-painted skateboard decks and limited edition prints for your wall. Plus, there’s lots more across fashion, homewares, kids and art!

Hip-hop heavyweight King Kapisi and songstress Teremoana Rapley will be taking over the DJ stage, selecting, singing and MCing, alongside DJs Sandy Mill and Matt Crawley, who will be providing the soundtrack across the weekend.

The kids will love the GO-GO Family Rave – a brand new way for families to connect, have fun and cut shapes together, or burning off some energy with Junky Monkeys in their pop-up adventure playground made entirely from recycled materials.

There are lots of free hands-on activities to help flex your creativity including Kra Koto Kra Drumming or Sew Love Sewing workshops or circus tricks training with the high-flying 3 Ring Riot.

"Public holidays are a time to connect with our friends and whānau and to hit reset for a couple of days. This long weekend we've created two days of activities, workshops, music and markets featuring some of New Zealand's most exciting makers and creators – there really is something for everyone," says Jamie Newman from Interesting Things.