Winter will be given a loud sendoff in New Brighton tomorrow as part of the inaugural Spring River Festival.

A free waterfront concert will take place in the amphitheatre beside the library with a lineup from noon to dusk that includes Merchants of Flow, Medway Roots and New Brighton's Pirate Ukulele Band.

Some streets will be closed to traffic and the community market will be "super-sized", organisers say.

Other events will include "sand dancer" Peter Donnelly creating a giant artwork on one side of the pier from 11am and a kite fest on the other side while kite-boarders perform in the waves.

An evening dub music concert called B-Town Rocksteady will feature headline act Cornerstone Roots and local bands including Taos and Messenjah. Tickets for the R18 event, which will start at 7.30pm and have a fully licensed bar, are available at New Brighton cafes.

The festival, co-ordinated by the Avon-Otakaro Network, will involve 40 recreational and community events over two days along the lower Avon corridor.

City councillor Peter Beck will kick-start activities at the Owles Tce riverside pontoon tomorrow at 9.45am in a ceremony involving a waka leading a flotilla downstream to where a Ngai Tuahuriri representative will address the gathering.

Full programme and band lineups on springriver.org.nz.

- © Fairfax NZ News

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