The Perfect Painting Franklin Multicultural Festival was held on Saturday 13 May 2023 at Pukekohe Indian Centre from 11am-4pm.
As the performance side of this day is getting bigger we have decided to focus on the performance aspect only again this year not the sports. There will be performances from local schools and groups ranging from Kindy through to adults.
We will have food stalls celebrating our Pasifika, Indian, South African, Dutch, Kiwi, Māori cultures and many more. Our famous vegetable stall will be on show too.
Click on this link for our awesome sponsors who make this day possible 🙂
General Overview – Changed from 2022
Each year in late March/early April, Puni School organises the Franklin Cultural Festival to celebrate the varied ethnicities of Pukekohe and the surrounding areas. This is our main fundraiser of the year for the PTA.
The day is celebrated at the Pukekohe Indian Centre. Up until 2019 we had sports as well but with 25 groups performing this is now the focus of the day.
2008 – Kabiddi (Indian bullrush game)
2009 – Ki-O-Rahi (Māori Rob the Nest)
2010 – Crazy Ball (NZ made game to strengthen throwing and catching skills)
2011 – Ultra Rip Rugby (devised by Jeremy Wara and Dameon C from Counties Manukau Rugby)
2012 – Tee-Ball (devised in USA in 1940’s)
2013 – Futsal (Brazilian 5 a side soccer)
2014 – Ki-O-Rahi
2015 – Touch Rugby
2016 – Turbo Touch
2017 – Turbo Touch
2018 – Soccer
2019 – Top School
2020 – Cancelled due to COVID 19
2021 – Performances only
The day generally commences at 11am with a welcome, karakia and warm up for the 500 performers.
The Puni School PTA/Community provide amusements such as face painting, children’s stalls, raffles, bouncy castles, merry-go-rounds, water walkers etc and a huge variety of ethnic foods for sale such as Butter Chicken, Hangi, Spicy Lamb Burgers, sausages in bread, cold drinks, ice-blocks, coffee/tea etc.
Performances begin with the Puni School Kapa Haka group being the first to perform, with the whole school closing the event at 5pm. Each group has 10 minutes to perform and we receive entries from Indian dancers, Bangla dancers, Martial Arts devotees, Polynesian groups, School Kapa Haka teams, Cheer Leaders, Hip Hop dancers, Scottish Pipers, Chinese Dragon dancers, School Choirs etc.
The Festival concludes around 5.30pm each year. The Festival has become an annual feature on the Franklin Calendar over the past 15 years.
Puni School NZ 