The Alexandra Blossom Festival is an annual event that is held for 17 days each September in

Alexandra, New Zealand Alexandra (Māori: ''Manuherikia'' or ''Areketanara'') is a town in the Central Otago district of the South Island of New Zealand. It is on the banks of the Clutha River (at the confluence of the Manuherikia River), on State Highway 8, by r ...

that celebrates the advent of Spring. The Festival is the longest-running community event of its kind in

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

History

The first blossom festival began on Friday, 27 September 1957 and the first attraction was the Horticultural Society's spring flower show. The next day saw the climax of the festival, as the frequently termed "big day" was held then. It was then that the now famous parade of floats first took place and they showcased themselves by moving along the main street of Alexandra. There was also entertainment during and after the parade at Alexandra's Pioneer Park. From then on, the parade and other main event attractions would take place usually in the last week of September during the weekend. The parade is always held on the Saturday. Alexandra's annual celebration of Spring is New Zealand's longest-running festival. The Alexandra Blossom Festival has raised many thousands of dollars to provide amenities for the town of Alexandra. This popular event encourages community spirit and attracts interest from all over the Country. 2006 marked the event's 50th anniversary.

Activities and Exhibits

Typically the types of available activities and exhibits vary from year to year. However, activities usually include things such as shearing championships, music festivals, blossom drives, musical productions and much more. Exhibits range from art exhibitions to flower shows. The most anticipated showing of the festival is the annual parade. Here a wide range of vehicles, objects, groups and people are on show including trucks, handmade floats, classic cars, street entertainers, marching bands and horse-driven vehicles. The "Saturday in the Park" which follows at the conclusion of the parade includes entertainment & relaxation for local & visiting families. Attractions include carnival rides, children's Stage & circus entertainers, all age music concerts, stalls, food and beverage tents and interactive games such as rock climbing. The year 2006 also saw the return of the "Party in the Park" concert. The concert was held at night in a Grand Marquee. Six bands from New Zealand played here, including the well known

Elemeno P Elemeno P is a New Zealand rock band. The band's first album, '' Love & Disrespect'' was released on 4 July 2003, and reached number one on the RIANZ albums chart. Their second album, '' Trouble in Paradise'' was released on 24 November 2005 ...

and

Goodnight Nurse Goodnight Nurse was a New Zealand pop punk band formed in Auckland in 2001. The group originally began as a trio, but later changed to a four-piece prior to the release of their second album. It consisted of lead vocalist Joel Little, guitaris ...

. The other bands were

Minuit MINUIT, now MINUIT2, is a numerical minimization software library developed at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN). It provides several algorithms that search for parameter values that minimize a user-defined function, and comput ...

Eggs Humans and human ancestors have scavenged and eaten animal eggs for millions of years. Humans in Southeast Asia had domesticated chickens and harvested their eggs for food by 1,500 BCE. The most widely consumed eggs are those of fowl, especial ...

, Solaa and

Twinset A twinset, twin set or sweater-set is a matching set of a cardigan and a (usually) short-sleeved jumper or pullover. The twinset first appeared in the 1940s and is now considered a classic wardrobe staple. Description The classic twinse ...

External links

Alexandra Blossom Festival

References

* http://www.centralotagonz.com/blossom_festival * http://www.stuff.co.nz/southland-times/life-style/5686163/Alexandra-Blossom-Festival-photos * http://www.odt.co.nz/news/galleries/gallery/general/179407/alexandra-blossom-festival * http://www.jasons.co.nz/alexandra?r {{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130222102247/http://www.jasons.co.nz/alexandra?r , date=2013-02-22 * http://www.atoz-nz.com/alexandra.asp

Spring festivals Tourist attractions in Otago Alexandra, New Zealand Flower festivals in New Zealand Spring (season) events in New Zealand Spring holidays (Southern Hemisphere)