This was an awesome event! From it’s website, I see that it is technically called the Auckland Secondary Schools Māori & Pacific Islands Cultural Festival. This year was it’s 49th celebration and it was held from 20-23 March at the Manukau Sports Bowl.

Polyfest is the largest Pacific Dance Festival in the world. But it’s not only the different cultural dances that you can feast upon. There’s food galore coming from all corners of the globe, although the food offered was mostly dominated from the Pacific Islands. This is also the time when schools from across Auckland, from primary to high school, come to Polyfest, to enjoy and have fun, as well as really having a real world experience outside the classroom.

This event is super cool. Ever since I’ve moved in 2017 to teach in Auckland, I’ve been bringing my students here. We normally come either on a Wednesday or a Thursday. It was good back in 2019 that we came before the Friday terrorist attacks in Christchurch happened. I was actually going to come back that Saturday because I sort of didn’t get the full experience I was always getting. However, for obvious reasons it was closed. Polyfest then had to take a forced leave of absence right after that.

We all know what happened during the first quarter of 2020, Covid-19 pandemic came. I was already looking forward to attending Polyfest but it had to be cancelled. For the next couple of years, the event was celebrated online. There really was no way that people will be stopped from celebrating it.

2023 was the year Polyfest came back live. And it came with a vengeance. Heaps of people converged and I could see that the crowd seemed to be bigger than the previous years. I was one of the many who enjoyed the event and it became even more memorable because I was teaching in a new school, and we had a very good representation on stage.

2024 is even more memorable because for the first time in my college’s 91-year history, Filipino students performed. I witnessed the days, nights, and weekends, that the kids practised and perfected their dance. There were 10 other colleges whose Filipino students.

What is amazing that in the Asian continent category, the top three winners came from Filipino dancers: 1st Avondale College, 2nd One Tree Hill College, and 3rd was my Otahuhu College. I’m looking forward to 2025 when Polyfest will celebrate it’s 50th anniversary. Will I still be in the samce college? That is another #ekwentomo!

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