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While the wet weather last night prevented a clear sighting of the Matariki star formation Pleiades, marking the start of the Maori New Year, there were plenty of `stars’ blazing inside the Dannevirke Sports Centre for the Ngati Kahungungu celebrations.

An estimated 600 people of all ages packed the Sports Centre for the first Matariki celebrations hosted by the Taiwhenua Ngati Kahungungu Inc for a colourful festival.

The `stars’ included the Matariki Events Team who had worked long and hard to arrange a varied programme of entertainment, decorations that included many sparkling `star’ lights and a hometown welcome to programme host Kingi Kiriona.

The Kahurangi Maori Dance Company based in Hastings, including Anna Lilo and Ruby Te Ture from Dannevirke, gave three colourful performances during the evening. It traced the arrival of Maori in New Zealand – starting from Tahiti, via Hawaii, Samoa, and Rarotonga, to eventually settle here. Costumes and stage effects were excellent.

Students from Hato Paora College and Te Aute College performed separate rousing songs, each ending with a haka.

First time visitor to Dannevirke Rosita Vai, a former New Zealand Idol winner, had a powerful voice and some of the songs were her own tracks.

A demonstration of Ceroc dancing was `almost exhausting’ to watch – fast and exciting, the three couples on stage could have been in a new version of `Dancing With The Stars’.

There was a generous number of `spot prizes’ handed out during the evening after 500 spot prize lucky numbers were handed out as people came through the doors.

Chairman of the Taiwhenua and the Matariki Events Team, Hayden Hape, said at the conclusion much work had gone into preparing the Matariki programme and he thanked all those involved, including the cooks, stallholders and sponsors.

``We worked well as a team and thanks to Kingi for keeping everything going so smoothly.’’