Hastings Blossom Festival 2014 | Wellington Batucada

Fabulous 1950s costumes in the rain

For the first time this year we decide to dress up in costume for Hastings, instead of wearing our normal Batucada uniform. The theme was Spring: Back to the Future – referring back to the heyday of the Hastings Blossom Festival in the 1950s when thousands of people would descend on the town for the annual festival.

It was a perfect opportunity for us to delve into the dress-up box and pull out our favourite floral swing dress, petticoats and cardis; or rock it out with a variation on 1950s James Dean T-shirt and jeans attire. We looked awesome, if we do say so ourselves.

It rained a bit, but who cares? We had a ball. Hastings weekend is when all the samba schools from around the country get together for a couple of days of mayhem on the local marae and take part in the parade together, and this was also the first year that each individual batteria played as separate units in the parade, instead of performing all together. Never fear though – we all got together after the parade was over, playing along with Niko Ne Zna who were performing on the main stage.

Great fun was had by all, and we got to meet the newest addition to the New Zealand samba family for the first time – Bay Batucada. Welcome to the team, guys!