Events & Entertainment

Check out all the events happening around the district this long weekend.

Tūrangi Garden club is hosting its biennial garden ramble on Sunday, November 9 when 10 gardens will be on show in Tūrangi, Motuoapa and Oruatua on the eastern and southern shores of Lake Taupō.

The annual Lake Taupo Rotary ‘Big Bang’ fireworks event has fallen on hard times again with organisers pulling the plug due to a lack of sponsorship.

The line-up for January’s Summer Concert has been announced with Iggy Pop and Joan Jett featuring.

Taupō’s popular weekly market has made a temporary move back to where it all began 20 years ago.

A hunting contest with more than $80,000 in prizes has been launched to help reduce the sika deer population in the Kaimanawa and Kaweka Forests.

It’s the most fun you can have on four wheels and it’s rolling up fast on the calendar.

Rangatahi are busy putting their go-karts together, while adults scheme up new ways to foil their opponents in the upcoming Blue Light Trolley Derby at Spa Park on November 15.

A day of learning and then presenting five pieces of music to a packed Great Lake Centre hall. The 2025 incarnation of Taupō School of Music’s Big Music Day also included the participation of six members of the Royal New Zealand Navy Band with Leading Musician Pricilla Scanlan conducting one of the pieces.

More than 200 horses from the North Island attended the first major horse trials event of the spring season at the Fiber Fresh National Equestrian Centre at Aratiatia, Taupō, over the weekend.

The 10th annual Malcolm Flowers Insurances Taupō Winter Festival has been hailed a huge success again this year, not only delivering a vibrant programme enjoyed by thousands, but also generating funds that are now going back into the community.

supporting the Lake Taupō Cycle Challenge as a volunteer group has become something meaningful for Te Hapori Ora, says Brendon (Hākuwai) Eriksen-Downs, chief executive of Te Hapori Ora - The Village of Wellbeing.

Taupō’s new cinema is taking shape and could be ready in as little as three months.

The Taupō School of Music’s Big Music Day is back again - this time with a naval twist.

Embra owner and chef Phill Blackburne creates another dish as part of the degustation tour in 2024.

Two Taupō mums have been galvanised into rapidly organising a benefit concert on Saturday (September 6) to help ease the lasting implications of a serious car accident involving four Year 12 boys from Taupō-nui-a-Tia College.

Winter seems to have come and almost gone with the minimum of fuss. With the sunlight hours getting noticeably longer, and the rhododendron trees already bursting with flowers, there’s reason to be upbeat.

Students from both Tauhara and Taupō-nui-a-Tia College will present pieces at the September midday concert.

Sharing a few recipes with friends has turned into a full time job and millions of fans for Taupō woman Anna Cameron. Anna, aka ‘Just a Mum’ has had 5.1 million views on Facebook, 400,000 on Instagram and 700,000 on TikTok in the last 28 days alone.

Taupō’s 35+ singles community now has a new way of match-making and it’s called meeting people face to face.

The Whakaipo Lodge Winter Concert is an intimate affair, with everyone gathered under the marquee in the Lodge gardens.

Popular indie and house music festival Le Currents has announced its line-up for its summer concert on December 28 at Riverside Park.

Three local groups fill the bill at the August midday concert – Keynotes Choir, Taupō Youth Strings and Taupō Strings.

The Taupō District Council has provided figures showing the impact of the ITM Taupō Super 440 leg of the Repco Supercars Championship in April this year.

The MoreFM Midwinter Swim was a chilly but rewarding experience for the hardy souls that took part on Saturday.

Taupō’s business agencies are targeting hotel developers in a bid to solve a shortage of quality accommodation.

A tourism events fund set up after the Covid-19 pandemic has generated $220 million in direct economic impact for communities in the ‘Thermal Explorer’ regions of Waikato, Rotorua, Taupō and Ruapehu.

It’s that time of the year again when everyone’s passions and hobbies come out of garages, sheds, halls and fields to converge on the Taupō Events Centre at AC Baths.

Christmas has come early for Tūrangi people who love a good light display on their house.

July’s Midday Concert features two Waikato University vocalists accompanied by Fergus Byett formerly from Taupō, who returns for his final performance before pursuing his musical career in the United Kingdom.

Taupō’s Peter Winkelmann headed for the bright lights and excitement of Los Angeles in 2020 because he wanted to “go to the source” to learn how to be a screen actor.