Despite considering a range of options to keep New Zealand’s leading light festival switched on this summer, the TSB Festival of Lights has been cancelled in the face of Delta pandemic restrictions.

“Sadly and like other event organisers around Aotearoa, we’ve found it’s logistically impossible to deliver an event that attracts up to 150,000 people over six weeks in an open setting like Pukekura Park under current restrictions and with uncertainty around traffic light changes,” NPDC Group Manager Community and Customer Services Teresa Turner says.

“This is a huge disappointment and it’s not a decision we’ve taken lightly. It’s also a blow for the artists, performers, sponsors and businesses who get a boost from the iconic event, and we waited as long as possible to try to find a way to make it happen but it just wasn’t viable,” she says.

The decision was made following advice from the Taranaki District Health Board, and Government officials.

The Government’s new scheme to insure summer festivals cancelled due to Covid does not apply to council-run events such as the TSB Festival of Lights.

The stunning lights displays in the spectacular Pukekura Park have been bringing joy to locals and Kiwis for almost 70 years and we are committed to bringing it back as soon as it’s logistically possible, Ms Turner says.

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