Southlanders and visitors alike are being urged to dress in tartan and head to Te Anau this weekend to enjoy a festival of kilted family fun.

The Te Anau Tartan Festival, cancelled last year due to Covid-19, is back for a seventh year, offering a two-day programme featuring a Scottish-themed variety concert on Good Friday, followed by a day of piping, highland dancing, market stalls, kids’ activities and have-a-go highland games at the Real Journeys Fiordland Event Centre and adjacent Memorial Park. The festival concludes with a dinner and ceilidh at the Te Anau Club on Saturday night.

The festival was the brainchild of a group of Fiordland locals of Scottish descent, working under the umbrella of the Te Anau Community Events Charitable Trust, who wanted to develop an affordable, family-based, community festival celebrating our cultural heritage through a unique mix of sports and arts that welcomed widespread participation and enjoyment.

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Introduced by Scottish settlers, Caledonian or Highland Games have been taking place in New Zealand since the 1860s but – despite its strong Scottish heritage – none survived in Southland. The establishment of the Te Anau Tartan Festival in 2013 changed that.

The festival has now become one of the major events in Fiordland and is well established on the piping and highland dancing competition circuit, with entrants this year coming from as far afield as Christchurch, as well as Otago and Southland.

Organising committee chairman Chris Watson said the event could never go ahead without the huge community support it enjoyed.

“The festival has always been really well supported by local volunteers and businesses. Given the impact of Covid-19 on the town, many of them, understandably, cannot commit to the same level so we’re very grateful for every cent of financial support and support in kind that we’ve had to enable this festival to go ahead.”

“We’re really hoping that it proves a drawcard for people from all over to come to the festival and stay on and experience everything that the area has to offer. The town really needs and appreciates that support right now.”

People are invited to dress up in tartan (there is a prize for the best). Teams are also invited for the tug o war competitions and runners can take part in the Kilted Mile event.

Tickets to the concert and ceilidh are available now via the event’s website Anyone can take part in the highland games for just $20 per family. Registrations will be open at 9am on Saturday at the park and the last chance to enter will be 1pm to enable enough time for everyone to try the events before the prizegiving at 4pm.

Further details, including the timetable for the day’s events, will be progressively announced on the website and facebook page.