Sign In / Register
After being closed for more than a year, the reopening of the renovated Mahurangi East Library and Community Centre is being celebrated in style this month, with a special Matariki Festival on Saturday, June 21.
There will be family activities inside and out the re-roofed and revamped hall facility throughout the afternoon and well into the evening, including games, food and live music.
The festival starts at 2pm with an official opening ceremony, where Auckland Council, Rodney Local Board and community guests will speak about the refurbishment and the many challenges faced by all those involved along the way.
From 3pm onwards, there will be children’s games, Matariki craft activity stations, live music and a Friends of the Library café open in the Betty Paxton Room. That will be followed by a free hangi community dinner and a family dance party finale, featuring guest DJ ‘The Mayor of Yester-Year’.
One of the organisers from Kawau Bay Action Group said the day was all about partying to celebrate the stunning new-look centre and library with as many locals as possible.
“We’re proud of this community and stoked to have our space back open,” she said. “Get those dancing feet ready!”
The 40-year-old hall and library complex was originally closed for renovation in April last year and was due to reopen five months later, but a series of construction problems and break-ins led to lengthy delays and a budget increase, from $1.7 million to nearly $4.5 million.
The project displaced 60 sports and community groups that used the hall and forced the library into a portable cabin in the tennis club carpark next door for the duration of the works.
