Matariki in the Zone 2018

Your invitation to a feast for 500 to celebrate Matariki in the red zone

An enormous feast for 500 people is planned to celebrate Matariki in the red zone at Avebury House and Richmond Community Gardens on Sunday 17 June.

The free feed will include a traditionally prepared hangi along with nourishing cuisine by Richard Till using locally grown produce cooked on site in the Avebury House kitchen - and you're invited to join us!

“Richard has been challenged to create something wonderful from produce supplied by those turning up on the day and from the community garden,” says Michelle Whitaker from Avebury House Community Trust.

Matariki in the Zone is a collaboration of Avebury House Community Trust, Richmond Community Garden and Avon-Ōtākaro Network.

Matariki is known as the Māori New Year and is a time for letting go of the past and heralding the future. Celebrating last season’s harvest and preparing for the new are signalled by the rise of Matariki or the Pleiades star constellation on the horizon of the early morning sky.

“It is therefore fitting that the community garden in the red zone adjoining Avebury Park is the site of this festival,” says Hayley Guglietta from Richmond Community Garden.

“Two new gardens will be opened on the day. An edible native koru garden will be blessed and a household raingarden exemplar for treating stormwater will be built and officially opened.”

Evan Smith spokesperson for Avon-Ōtākaro Network says, “this is the fourth and by far the largest Matariki in the Zone that we have planned. This year’s event promises to be a ‘real doozie’”.

“Live entertainment, carving and weaving demonstrations, stalls and displays, and planting will complement kids’ activities in the Avebury playground – there will be something for the whole family.”

The event kicks off at 11am on Sunday 17 June with food available from noon and continuing into the afternoon at Avebury Park and Richmond Community Garden. Access is available via Eveleyn Couzins Avenue, Vogel Street or from Swanns Road by walking north 50m up River Road.

To register for the meal go to www.aveburyhouse.co.nz. We hope to see you on Sunday!

RED ZONE FUTURES

As part of Christchurch’s regeneration, we have an unprecedented opportunity to plan the future of the land along the Ōtākaro Avon River that includes the area known as the ‘former Residential Red Zone’.

Regenerate Christchurch's free Red Zone Futures public exhibition is now open: "We welcome you to consider what has happened to this land, and tell us what you’d like to see next."

The Exhibition is well worth a visit and it is really important you take the time to consider opportunities presented and provide your feedback by the end of this month. Alternatively you can do everything on-line here.

Exhibition details

Where: 99 Cashel St, Cashel Mall, Christchurch
When: 10am–3pm daily (Thursdays until 7pm) from 26 May to 30 June 2018
How much: Free!

Children are welcome. Venue is accessible for everyone.

What to Expect

The Red Zone Futures exhibition at 99 Cashel St takes an in-depth look at the Ōtākaro Avon River Corridor Regeneration Area, including its history and cultural significance, the process Regenerate Christchurch has undertaken to get to this point, and how the Area could look in the future.

As well as a detailed exhibition, there’s an express version for those pushed for time. There’re also videos, interactive displays, colouring-in for the kids and plenty of opportunities to tell Regenerate Christchruch what activities and themes you’d like to see in the Three Reaches.

In addition to Red Zone Futures which focuses on land uses and activities, Avon-Ōtākaro Network in partnership with many other proposal proponents, has put together a pop-up alternative exhibition of projects proposed for the red zone. You can find us on the pavement opposite 99 Cashel Street on Saturdays when Red Zone Futures is on or this weekend at Matariki in the Zone on Sunday. Do come and have a chat with the folks behind the actual proposals for the red zone.