The Mother of all festivals, the Hibiscus Festival occurs every year in August and is a week long event filled with food, entertainment and fun. Public parades are a feature involving contestants vying to be crowned as the King Contestant, Queen Contestant, Lady Contestant and for the younger set, Teen Contestant and Prince and Princess.
Every year this event has a theme. In 2012 Hibiscus the theme was ‘Overcoming Non- Communicable Diseases in Fiji’. Thousands of people flock to the festival to enjoy the fun and atmosphere at the grounds at Albert Park. It is now known as the premier festival in Fiji in the Pacific region and features Pacific arts and craft, traditional and contemporary dances, sports and many fun and exciting activities.
Every day of the week events are scheduled featuring differing themes such as the Fijian night, Indian night, Asian night and so on. It is one event of the year where you will find people from all around Fiji gathering together, including the outer islands.
The schools are also in their final week of break, thus the heavy influence of youth enjoying the rides, games and the snacks and food that are offered. There is a huge range of food stalls with the most prevalent being the BBQ. Festival orientated foods such as candy floss, snow cones and popcorn are also available and vendors who sell kids balloons, clothes, costume jewelry and toys at the grounds.
This annual event is becoming more and more popular each year with all participants enjoying a safe, educational and exciting festival in a multi-cultural environment.
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