Pasifika communities are celebrating in the Bay in what is promptly becoming a festival that grows bigger and better each year.

Hosted by Tahatai School on Wednesday night, the Pasifika in the Bay festival drew Bay of Plenty locals from far and wide.

Event organiser Mike Douglas says more than 2000 performers, tutors, supporters and community members attended.

'It was fantastic, we had food and market stalls selling beautiful island food, paint on tattoos and coffee for parents.”

The festival showcased schools from around the Bay with special performances from 12-year-old Porirua student, Jillian Tupuse alongside an international group.

'Jillian was invited and sponsored by Tahatai School to come up and perform at the festival,” says Mike.

'She is part of a youth strings orchestra in Wellington and at the festival she played violin and sung.”

'We also had Ma'amaloa Side School, from Nuku Alofa in Tonga who performed for the first time at our festival.

'Having students of the same age perform who are straight from the islands was an amazing addition to our line-up.”

New Zealand Women's Rugby players Crystal Mayes and Ruby Tui also attended the festival.

'They gave advice to inspire our young tamariki to take up challenges and overcome them and were also on hand to give out prizes.

'It was great having them, we know how busy they are and they gave up their own time to be out our festival which was awesome.

Mike says the festival has significantly improved from previous years.

'There were more schools involved, more stalls and more people,” he says.

'The students loved performing in it and there were new schools who participated this year who are looking forward to being part of it next year.

'Parents were amazed by the slickness of the performances and the variety of cultures represented in the dancing and the actual group themselves and our audiences were loud and supportive.

'We knew it was going to be good and word is spreading that this is going to be the event to mark on the school calendar.

A short clip produced by Holger Pfab at TJP Productions, will feature a collation of highlights from the festival and will be available online soon.