Where it all began.
In 2006 a small group of volunteers began running the Mary Potter Hospice Strawberry Festival at MacLean Park, Paraparaumu Beach. The purpose was to raise money for the Mary Potter Hospice Kāpiti base and from small beginnings the festival rapidly grew to become a popular annual event.
Originally, the primary focus was the sale of strawberries and ice cream with other charitable stalls run by the volunteers selling plants, linen, BBQ’d food, and offering face painting, a bouncy castle, and a massage service. The event was linked together with six hours of continuous music and entertainment based around a central stage.
Over time the Hospice Strawberry Festival has been an important fundraising and public awareness event on the Hospice’s calendar with over 8,000 punnets of strawberries and 1,000 litres of ice cream consumed per year raising thousands of dollars.
Our annual event is now held at Kāpiti Primary School - a much bigger space for us to set up more stalls and activities, with the main stage providing all day entertainment and demonstrations and the Mary Potter Hospice strawberry tent as the heart of our sweet festival.
This year, after successfully bringing our beloved strawberries back into the fore, we are excited to see what wonderful things await us. We look forward to bringing another brilliant day out to Kāpiti in November.