It’s a wrap for Youth Week, one of the biggest, most successful local celebrations of the national event held in the Hawke’s Bay region.

With 13 free events run over 10 days, the Hastings district youth councillors and Hastings District Council support staff pulled out all the stops to provide a calendar of activities with something for everyone.

About 2000 people attended the finale at the Hawke’s Bay Regional Sports Park last Sunday, which featured a 36m inflatable obstacle course, as well as games, giveaways and prizes.

This followed a week of arts and sporting activities ranging from skate and scooter competitions to movie nights and playstation gaming competitions across Hastings, Camberley, Flaxmere and Havelock North.

The aim was to cater for people’s different interests, with sporting events intertwined with creative activities such as Cosplay and craft events and a Youth Art Symposium.

This year’s theme was “we are more than you see” and a number of events were specifically designed to draw attention to mental health, such as the use of the gumboot in the gumboot hunt event – the symbol used to raise money for free mental health counselling for children.

The Hastings District Youth Council thanked all the people, organisations and businesses that supported the events as well as those who took part, and looked forward to making the week even bigger and better next year.

Hastings District Council group manager community facilities and programmes Alison Banks says that the talent of the youth in Hastings is something we all need to be proud of.

“The amazing events the Youth Council team put together shows how passionate our young people are about our community.

“Our young people want to be part of the solutions and it is important that we continue to consult and involve them.”

Hastings district councillor Malcolm Dixon says what the Youth Council managed to achieve throughout the week, and the support that they were given by the younger community was outstanding.

“It shows that Hastings is blessed with a number of very talented young people that just need to be provided with opportunities to perform, excel and entertain.”

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