All that's homegrown at Summerfest | Bay of Plenty Entertainment | Events, Movies and TV Guide for Bay of Plenty

Creative Tauranga and Tauranga Round Table have launched the inaugural Summerfest festival - celebrating locally grown, talented performing artists - to be staged at Blake Park, Mount Maunganui on Sunday, February 5.

This first-class event aims to deliver an inspiring line-up of local artists as well as bringing home two local lads who have made it on the national and international stage as guest lead acts - Stan Walker and Jeremy Redmore of Midnight Youth.

Summerfest is an initiative we hope will become an iconic event for the region that celebrates and showcases our rich creative taonga: our culture, home-grown musicians and performing artists.

An accessible, family-friendly, 100 per cent alcohol-free event which inspires our community to support the performing arts and nurtures up-and-coming local artists into success, both on the national stage and internationally.

The festival is also a celebration of Creative Tauranga's 50th Birthday and to initiate a new Creative Tauranga Performing Arts Scholarship.

Another exciting component of the festival event is Give a Gift of Summerfest. With our community having suffered two major disasters this year, we felt it would be an opportunity to open to the public and corporates an appeal to raise tickets for those amazing members of our community who have volunteered in the clean-up of Rena, and to support those families affected by the dreaded Psa disease.

In partnership with the New Zealand Kiwifruit Growers Inc and Bay of Plenty Regional Council (Operation Beach Clean-Up), all Community Spirit tickets raised for donation will be passed on accordingly by them. Summerfest is something for us all to look forward to and to come together through these hard times and have a bit of fun. Staging the event on Waitangi Weekend is also a true fit in celebrating our unique New Zealandness.

Two stages will run between 10am and 9pm - with food stalls, children's activities, music, urban dance and varying entertainment galore.

Tickets are priced from $20 for a family (2 adults, 3 children), $10 for youth, $5 for children and under-5s are free. There is the additional bonus of TECT cardholders being able to secure a family pass for $15.

You are welcome to bring in a picnic - we have tried to make this event as easy on the pocket as we can - but strictly no alcohol and bag checks will take place.

Fourth exhibition A fabulous group exhibition is currently on show at Creative Tauranga by a talented collection of Te Puna artists.

In 2002, Mary Haywood began teaching 10 students, to raise funds in recognition for the care given by Waipuna Hospice to her late husband. She no longer teaches but for the past six years artists have come every Wednesday night to her studio based in Te Puna to paint, share ideas and have fun.

The group had to find a title to show under so the title "Group 55" was chosen. Fifty-five is the number of Mary's home and studio and not, as one reporter thought, because the group were all aged over 55.

This is their fourth major exhibition and showcases 12 stunning artists - Jenny Grose, Gloria Herbert, Sally Greenaway, Pippa Wilson, Nikki Morrison, Jo-ann Farnell, Helen Lees, Shirley Hawes, Celia Baunton, Mary Cripps, Anna Briffa and Mary Hayward. The exhibition runs until December 12 at the Creative Tauranga Gallery on the corner of Wharf and Willow Sts.