It’s a time to celebrate, a time and place for the kids to have a fun day, and a period for a proud and tightknit community to come together again.

The annual Te Puna School Country Fair is back in business tomorrow, Saturday, November 2, after the Covid pandemic lockdown forced it into mothballs four years ago. That was a tough decision.

“We were all ready and prepared for the last fair, which was meant to happen a week after lockdown. Then we had to pull the pin,” says Te Puna School PTA’s Leyna Thompson.

But that was four years ago, times have changed – and tomorrow the show goes on in a beautiful rural setting with traditional rural games like gumboot throwing and tug-of-war.

There will be entrepreneur stalls where some of the school’s 255 pupils will showcase their skills with products they have made – baked items and crafts. Out on the tennis court, another bunch of kids will hold competitions like the shooting hoops in a minute.

You can ride on anything from a pony to a tractor. But skip breakfast because there’s a cafe, food trucks and a hāngī. There will be dance displays and a mountain bike display.

And there’s something called a “pig in the barrow” – a papier-mache pig’s head surrounded with goodies and then raffled. The pig proper, a processed one, is apparently in the chiller and can be claimed later.

The fair opens at 9.30am on Saturday, November 2 and runs through to 1.30pm. “That seems early, but by then most people have had enough high excitement,” says Leyna.

Te Puna School Country Fairs have traditionally pulled thousands, and the weather forecast seems to be promising another bumper turnout. Bring cash, is the advice from Leyna – lots of small change.

Te Puna School is on the corner of Borell and Te Puna Roads. From town on State Highway 2, turn right at Te Puna roundabout.