Bloom extravaganza set to return

Bloom festival organiser Francis Hughes says the inaugural three-day family fiesta held at the Matakana Country Park from January 20 to 23, exceeded his expectations.

“What a ride!” Francis says.

“After close to a year of planning, it was fantastic to see it all come together and run as smoothly as it did. It will definitely be back next year.”

Francis says around 4000 people attended the festival over the three days and thanks to the vigorous organisation from all those involved, everybody had a good time.

“It is a comfortable venue, everyone had a lot of room to move about which is an important safety aspect when children are involved. We’ve received some great feedback saying everyone had an enjoyable experience and that Bloom was the highlight of their holiday due to the wet weather impacting on so many other events.”

While it did rain on the Sunday, campers had a good two days of fine weather beforehand.

Francis said the most popular events were the Fuse Circus of Wellington performance on Saturday night and the fireworks display.