Pasifika Festival08 March 2010 to 13 March 2010 Opening Concert - Thursday 11 March, 7pm to 9pm Featuring performers from 10 of the Pacific communities – Samoa, Tonga, Cook Islands, Fiji, Niue, Tahiti, Tokelau, Tuvalu, Kiribati and Tangata Whenua. These performances will be celebrating the 2010 icons - the molokau (centipede) and frangipani. Stories of these icons will be expressed through traditional and contemporary dance, song or story telling. The Opening Night Concert will also feature guest performances from overseas. Ports of Auckland Round The Bays 201014 March 2010 to 14 March 2010 Ports of Auckland Round the Bays has been an annual event in Auckland since 1972, when the Auckland Joggers Club initiated it. The first run attracted 1200 participants and has now grown to be one of the world's largest fun-runs with nearly 40,000 registered runners and an estimated 70,000 participants. Today the event is a joint collaboration between the Auckland Joggers Club and Fairfax Media. The run is 8.4km long over a flat course that follows the contours of Auckland's Waitemata harbour. It starts in the city on Quay St and finishes on the waterfront at St Heliers Bay. Every registered participant of Ports of Auckland Round the Bays receives a runner number to wear on the day and a personalised certificate recording the time they completed. ASB Polyfest17 March 2010 to 20 March 2010 The ASB Polyfest is the largest Maori and Pacific Island's cultural festival in the world. In 2009 it attracted record spectator numbers of over 90,000, with 9000 students competing from 59 schools. The 2010 festival takes place from the 17th to the 20th of March at the Manukau Sportsbowl. It features traditional music, dance, costume and speech and is now recognised as an important showcase of New Zealand's diverse cultures and a celebration of youth performance. Students will compete on five stages, performing traditional items from the following cultures; Cook Islands, Maori, Niue, Samoan and Tongan. There will also be a Diversity stage featuring performances from a range of cultural groups including Chinese, Korean and Indian. The 2010 ASB Polyfest takes on special significance as it is the 35th anniversary of the festival. Sir Edmund Hillary Collegiate return as the host school for festival for the 5th time. They hosted that first ever festival in 1976, so it is fitting that they return in 2010 to be an integral part of the 35th Anniversary of the ASB Polyfest.
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