On Saturday (2/17) night there was an event called Sparks happening at Hagley Park, a large park closer to central Christchurch. Kaelyn and Bryn told me they were planning on going and that there was supposed to be music and fireworks, but I didn’t really know what else to expect. We ended up taking the bus over to Hagley Park with several other UC students and as we walked through the park, I could tell it’s very beautiful and I definitely want to go back and spend more time there. But, for the event there were tons of people and lots of kiwi families. There were lots of food trucks set up around the perimeter of the site and then people brought fold up chairs and blankets to sit in front of the stage. The setup was a lot like that of the Talcott Mountain Music Festival that we go to each summer with the Hartford Symphony Orchestra.
We got gelato and then found a place to sit so that we could see the stage and the large screens which were really nice so we could see what was going on since we were pretty far away. The Christchurch Symphony Orchestra played and they had a nice program of a lot of classical music that most people would recognize. They even played parts of the Nutcracker! One thing that was really fun was that they played a song from the movie Moana and had a woman singing the lyrics in Maori, the native New Zealand language. They ended the night by playing the 1812 Overture along with the fireworks. It was a cool performance and I really enjoyed the music. It really reminded me of the summer outdoor concerts that we go to, so that was fun as well. After the fireworks were over we decided to walk back to UC since so many people would be trying to get on the buses and there would be a lot of traffic. The walk was a little longer than expected, but it was a nice night and I didn’t mind the long walk.
Hammond Adventures 