Napier's Art Deco Festival celebrates 30 years

February 17, 2018

The city's signature architecture style came about as the city rebuilt after the 1931 earthquake.

On the 3rd of February 1931 a 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck Napier, claiming 256 lives and flattened the city.

However, in just two years Napier rebuilt and re-invented itself as the Art Deco capital of the world.

This year's event, which runs until Sunday, marks the 30th year of the Art Deco Festival that celebrates the era.

Napier's Art-Deco Ambassador and official fan-man, John Cocking, and his alter-ego 'Bertie', will be front and centre in these celebrations.

"My mother and farther were amateur dancers, and as a child I was dragged along to dance halls all over the place, and they loved swing music, that was there era, and I was just born with it I think," Bertie says.

"Where would Napier be without Art Deco, I have to say I'm sorry, bland and boring." 

Bertie says the annual Art Deco Festival is to celebrate the Art Deco style, not to commemorate the earthquake that inadvertently led to it.

"We're not trying to say it's sad, we've lost 256 people, it is sad. But what it is, is to celebrate the grit and determination of those people who said 'we're going to rebuild this, and we're not just going to build anything, we're going to build the newest city on the globe'," Bertie says.

"I think what people take out of this is that sense of having stepped back in time.

There will be 40,000 people expected at the Napier Art Deco Festival this weekend and the weather forecast is set to be just dandy.

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