Applications have closed.

Join us to celebrate Waitangi Day with our community. This year the annual International Kai Festival will be at Founders Heritage Park.

The Kai Festival is an opportunity for the wider community to share traditional kai/food and taonga/treasures from different cultures. People want to see you prepare your food and share in your stories. Be inspired to cook your traditional foods and taonga from your Whenua/family to share with the people of Nelson and beyond!

The festival is great for meeting people from the wider community and is also a wonderful fundraising opportunity for reunions, children's sports trips, kapa haka, school trips, Whānau/family gatherings, and other events.

We ask that kai is sold in $5 and $10 portion sizes. The smaller portion should be a sample of your food so visitors can try different foods over the day without filling up. Drinks can't have refined or added sugar to follow Council's policies to promote healthy beverage choices. Diet, zero sugar, 100% fruit juice and unsweetened milk drinks are all acceptable. The only exceptions are traditional cultural drinks, such as kawakawa and homemade drinks like lemonade.

This is a zero-waste event, managed by Waste No More, and everything needs to be fully compostable or reusable plates and cutlery. No plastic packaging is allowed. Founders will purchase your compostable products for you if required (Ecoware and Decent Packaging brands). Please ensure you have thoroughly read the Waste No More documentation and completed the Waste No More order form.

The number of sites available for food carts is limited and preference will be given to cultural kai. We ask you to sell from a table rather than from a van to help create a friendlier environment. Applications closed Monday 23 January 2023.