Pride Wairau celebrates openness

Radiate is a feeling before it’s a word. It’s the quiet glow that begins deep within, then rises, spills over, and reaches outward.

If that passage piques your interest and inspires your spirit, Pride Wairau awaits your attendance. The nine-day festival with “Radiate” as its theme starts next weekend (12 June) and celebrates not just the rainbow community but also communities of open-hearted, open-minded Marlburians.

“Going into the third year of the festival, we really feel like it’s becoming something,” Jesse North, chair of organising group Pride Wairau Manatōpū, shared last week. “It seems to be organically growing now. It’s got a bit of momentum behind it, which is quite cool.”

Exemplifying the growth is the calibre of visual and performing artists coming to Marlborough.

Aroha – globetrotting DJ and Kiwi native Aroha Harawira – is the headliner. Also on the bill: HALFQUEEN, another DJ, who defies categorisation. Acclaimed quilter Ron Te Kawa brings an exhibition, “Love is at the Centre of Everything”, to Pride.

“To have that level of talent is pretty epic,” Jesse said – and those three are just the tip of the iceberg. “The way that Marlborough is celebrating [Pride, an international commemoration] puts us up there with the bigger centres. The artists that we have, the events that we hold, sit in that bigger-city mould.”

Pride Wairau, which launched in 2024, is part of what Jesse described as “a shift for regional areas around the country to celebrate Pride in their own way”. Underpinning Marlborough’s festival is an open-arms ethos.

“Pride is not just for the rainbow community; Pride is for everyone,” he emphasised. “The whole point of it is absolutely everyone is welcome.”

Pride Wairau
When: 12-21 June
Where: Various venues
Lineup and tickets: pridewairau.co.nz