Easter events in Wairararapa
The Wairarapa Balloon Festival is happening over five days – with the spectacular main event of the Night Glow on Saturday night at Clareville Showgrounds, Carterton.
Please note – all ascension launch sites and flight paths will be weather dependent. Keep up to date with any changes or announcements through the Wairarapa Balloon Festival's Facebook page.
• Tonight (Thursday 6 April) from 5.30pm - 7.30pm - Burner Light Up in Masterton’s Queen Elizabeth Park.
• Friday 7 April – 20 balloons ascension at Carrington Park, Carterton, at 6.30am, just off Main Street.
• Saturday 8 April - The Meander over Martinborough ascension takes place from 6.30am from Martinborough Golf Course.
• Saturday 8 April - Night Glow at Clareville Showgrounds. Once darkness falls, the balloons will be inflated, and held on the ground, glowing like huge Chinese lanterns. This will be set to live music, providing a spectacular glow, and an impressive finale to the evening festivities. Live band, bouncy castle, food vendors, static displays.
• Sunday 9 April - Park to Paddock Challenge happens from 6.30am in Greytown’s Kuranui College grounds in East Street.
• Monday 10 April - Farewell Flight at 6.30am from a 'mystery location' to be announced on Wairarapa Balloon’s Facebook page on the previous morning of Sunday 9 April.
Greytown’s National Tweed Ride is in tippy-top shape for its nearly 200 trend-setting tweedsters for their unashamed showing off on Saturday afternoon. Watch the mad mob depart at 1pm from the Greytown Working Persons’ Club Carpark on West Street – opposite Fresh Choice supermarket.
Molewood Orchard, Greytown. It's harvest season and you're welcome to bring a bag or bucket, and pick your own apples for only $2 per kg! Saturday 8 - Monday 10 April. Why not bring along a picnic lunch as well and make a day of it. Sunscreen, sturdy footwear and hats are good ideas too!
Our wonderful staff at the Masterton and Martinborough i-SITES will be manning their stations over Easter and ever willing and ready to help. Please note - Masterton’s i-SITE office will be closed on Sunday.
⚠️ DOGS DIE IN HOT CARS. If you love them, don't leave them. ⚠️
It's a message we share time and time again, and this year, we're calling on you to help us spread that message further.
Did you know that calls to SPCA about dogs left inside hot cars made up a whopping 11% of all welfare calls last summer? This is a completely preventable issue, and one which is causing hundreds of dogs (often loved pets) to suffer.
Here are some quick facts to share with the dog owners in your life:
👉 The temperature inside a car can heat to over 50°C in less than 15 minutes.
👉 Parking in the shade and cracking windows does little to help on a warm day. Dogs rely on panting to keep cool, which they can't do in a hot car.
👉 This puts dogs at a high risk of heatstroke - a serious condition for dogs, with a mortality rate between 39%-50%.
👉 It is an offence under the Animal Welfare Act to leave a dog in a hot vehicle if they are showing signs of heat stress. You can be fined, and prosecuted.
SPCA has created downloadable resources to help you spread the message even further. Posters, a flyer, and a social media tile can be downloaded from our website here: www.spca.nz...
We encourage you to use these - and ask your local businesses to display the posters if they can. Flyers can be kept in your car and handed out as needed.
This is a community problem, and one we cannot solve alone. Help us to prevent more tragedies this summer by sharing this post.
On behalf of the animals - thank you ❤️
Would you like a free copy of our February 2025 issue?
Kia ora neighbours. We give away free copies to readers whose recipes are used in our magazine. We're still on the hunt for tomato recipes, so send your family's favourite way to use up your homegrown harvest, to: mailbox@nzgardener.co.nz. If we use it in the mag, you will receive a free copy of the mag