Dark clouds don't affect festival mood

Dark clouds were gathering over the Parihaka International Peace Festival yesterday afternoon, but the change of weather did little to affect the mood of campers.

Lounging under blankets outside their tents, Taranaki teens Hine Dando, Freya Pearce, Scarlett Lawson, all 13, and Sarah Jones, 16, said the festival had been "mean as".

The girls were part of a group of 17 who spent the past few days at Parihaka, soaking up the atmosphere and catching some of their favourite bands.

"Fat Freddy's Drop the other night was gank," Hine said before explaining the teenglish slang for the Taranaki Daily News.

"That just means awesome."

"House of Shem was mean, too," Freya added.

While their setup lacked some of the comforts of home, cooking on a camp stove hadn't meant sub-standard fare over the weekend.

"We've got friends in some of the other tents who do all the cooking," Hine said. "We had a big feed of mussels but don't get our mess in the photo."

The four-day festival attracted everyone from long-haired hippies to families with young children and there was something to entertain or inform them all.

On Saturday, hundreds of people packed into the marquee housing the speakers' forum to hear Black Power member Denis O'Reilly and Maori Party MP Hone Harawira hit out at issues like the prevalence of methamphetamine in New Zealand.

The marquee was again bursting at the seams yesterday afternoon when a debate led by Maori Party MP Te Ururoa Flavell discussed the chance of peace in Taranaki 150 years after the beginning of the New Zealand Wars.

With an almost evangelical performance peppered with cries of "Hallelujah, brothers and sisters!", Ngati Te Whiti identity Peter Moeahu won huge support for the affirmative side, support the negatives were unable to win back.

However, hundreds of festival-goers were there for the music and crowds frequently gathered to sway away the hours at three stages around the site.

- © Fairfax NZ News