Residents in the Northland town of Kaikohe are hosting their own festival after the annual Ngapuhi event was shifted to Whangarei.
The Ngapuhi festival draws tens of thousands of visitors each year to Kaikohe and residents are disappointed it's leaving town.
Their protest event will be hosted next weekend, a week before the Ngapuhi one.
Kaikohe locals look forward to the annual Ngapuhi festival which attracts crowds of up to 30,000 and revenue of up to $5 million for the Northland town.
But the Ngapuhi runanga has decided to move it to Toll Stadium in Whangarei after renovations were announced at Kaikohe's Northland College.
"It wasn't an easy decision for our board, and we were certainly sad to see it leave Kaikohe," said Tio Taiaki, of Te Runanga-Ā-Iwi O Ngapuhi.
The event has been held in Auckland and Whangarei before. But Kaikohe has had a tough year with businesses closing and growing concern around youth crime, so Kaikohe locals were looking forward to the energy the festival brings.
"We certainly hope that by hosting it in Whangarei - the mid-point between Auckland and Kaikohe and further north - that it does bring our people together," Mr Taiaki said.
Some Kaikohe locals are making moves to set up it's own mini Ngapuhi festival a week before.
"I really feel sad for Kaikohe, but I also can see the reason why the runanga would chose to relocate the festival here to Whangarei," said Sheryl Mai, Whangarei mayor.
Organisers say it will be the biggest festival yet, with a 40-metre waterslide that will take up the width of the stadium's field, more than 110 different stalls, 25 different bands, including Aaradhna, and it's all going to be for free.
Organisers say they are hoping to take the festival back to Kaikohe in the future.
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