Something's brewing in Te Anau this Easter as organisers of the town's popular Tartan Festival temporarily ditch the event's traditional daytime games, in favour of a special one-night-only 'ceilidh with a modern twist' featuring high energy kiwi fusion band Highland Storm.

Celebrating Southern New Zealand's Scottish roots the Easter festival has steadily grown since its establishment in 1993, drawing thousands to the Fiordland tourist town, to become one of Southland's major cultural events.

Festival convener Kirsty Pickett said this year's celidh, a tartan-tangled, social celebration of music, dance, and Scottish revelry, would be held on Easter Monday (Apr 1) so people could enjoy other events around the province before finishing their holiday in Te Anau.

And of course the next day marks Southland Anniversary Day, she said.

Pickett said the festival's competitions and popular highland games, including the highland heavyweight invitational, would still return but on a biennial basis in the future.

The decision to shift to a biennial schedule had not been taken lightly.

“The festival is an enormous undertaking for a small committee every year," she said.

"We also realised that with Covid disruptions, and prior to that the clash with the Ed Sheeran concert in Dunedin, we have actually only been running the festival biennially since so it made sense to continue that frequency."

The internationally acclaimed Highland Dance Company of New Zealand performed at last year's (2023) Te Anau Tartan Festival. Photo: Pro Focus Photography

However the festival is no stranger to attracting it's own top headline acts, with past sell-out performances from internationally acclaimed groups the Highland Dance Company of New Zealand and Pipeworkz.

Pickett said she was excited to announce this year's headline act, Highland Storm, which would bring an eclectic repertoire of Scottish, Kiwi and pop music that was bound to stir the Scottish blood.

Highland Storm features not only some of the south's leading vocalists and musicians, including Simon Green, Hollie Longman, Aaron Ives and Simon Thompson, but also a top notch line-up of bagpipers.

The band has performed to high acclaim at parties, conferences and festivals including both the Arrowtown Autumn Festival and Alexandra Blossom Festival.

Pickett said this year’s event would be more casual, with cocktail-style seating and a dance floor for people to mix and mingle and enjoy the music.

VIP tables of 8 would also be available.

CLICK HERE to find out more about the Te Anau Tartan Festival.

CLICK HERE to purchase tickets to this year's Te Anau Tartan Festival 'ceilidh with a modern twist' at the Real NZ Fiordland Community Event Centre on April 1st.