Water Festival For Putaruru

Water Festival For Putaruru

Putaruru, home to New Zealand's freshest, most pure water and celebrated among the best waters in the world, will stage a week-long Water Festival with the assistance of funding from the SKYCITY Hamilton Community Trust.

Putaruru attracts many tourists during the one-week festival, to be held this year from Saturday 12 - Sunday 20 March. This is the third annual Putaruru Water Festival and will feature activities related to the arts, economy, recreation, environment and education.

"The community has such a great spirit, especially around festival time. The people of Putaruru are so proud of the unique fresh water theme, which has evolved over the past few years. During the festival, celebrity judges will conduct water tasting at Water Park, photography and art with fresh water themes will be featured, and interesting activities for our youth will be on offer," says Megan Ranger, Manager Pride in Putaruru.

Pride in Putaruru recently sent its water to the Berkeley Springs Winter Festival of the Waters, located in West Virginia USA, for an international water tasting competition. Putaruru's water won the silver medal coming second in the world. The town of Gibsons, British Colombia, Canada won gold.

The town's water supply comes from Putaruru's Blue Spring, located along the banks of Te Waihou Stream, which also provides water for around 60% of New Zealand's bottled water market.

Margaret Evans, Chairperson, SKYCITY Hamilton Community Trust says, "Winning silver in an international event is a huge accomplishment and the town of Putaruru definitely has something to feel proud of. The festival is unique to Putaruru and is New Zealand's only water festival. The Trust is delighted that is can support such an exciting event, which mixes aspects of the unique environment with an educational programme."

The SKYCITY Hamilton Community Trust was established in 2003, as part of the SKYCITY Hamilton licence applications process, to provide funds for community and charitable purposes. To date, the Trust has distributed more than $850,000 in grants to the Waikato Community and recently announced the successful recipients from its second funding round.

ENDS

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