Editorial: Our city rocks

Jimi Hendrix once said "music is a safe kind of high".

He may have been talking about screaming guitars at chest-thumping volumes, but the message is universal.

While the 50th National Jazz Festival may be squarely aimed at lovers of sultry saxophones and improvised melodies, the beat will lure lovers of every genre to the central city this weekend.

Last year, in appalling weather, the festival attracted 30,000 people. This year, with a mixed weather forecast, we could be looking at even bigger crowds.

While jazz enthusiasts tend to frequent the individual performances, music-lovers and festival junkies of all persuasions favour events such as the steamboat and the Historic Village picnic.

All of them welcome the abundance of live music.

The 35th Youth Jazz Competition, in the Bay of Plenty Times festival hall, offers young artists the opportunity to perform on the same stage as their mentors.

Our local musicians have regularly risen to the top of the competition - all of which serves to reinforce Tauranga's claim as New Zealand's home of jazz. Young artists sharing the weekend with the likes of Earth, Wind & Fire receive an unforgettable endorsement of how high their own musical careers could soar.

What do these visiting musicians, from Harlem-born Patti Austin to German jazz royalty Klaus Doldinger, see when they arrive in our city?

Hopefully they discover a city with a regional pace but big-city amenities.

Maybe they'll be charmed by intimate dining at lovely little side-street restaurants, or the sight of a train rattling over the bridge while they sup on a cold drink at a bar on The Strand.

Maybe they'll be struck by the beauty of the harbour and the hills beyond.

Maybe they'll get an inkling of why so many of us leave larger cities to settle in the regions, where free parking abounds, "peak hour traffic" is laughable and you don't have to put your child on a waiting list for daycare the day they are born.

There is a belief beyond the Kaimais that Tauranga is a sleepy retirement village.

Sure, this city has a healthy older population - who wouldn't retire in these gorgeous surrounds if they could? And, granted, the pace here is usually deliciously languid. I can lie in the hammock in my garden and not hear anything except tui and yet I only live a 6 minute drive from work in the heart of the CBD.

Events such as the jazz festival show this city has a vibrant community spanning all age-groups - from Jimi Hendrix fans to devotees of northern hemisphere boy-band One Direction, and everything between and beyond.

Tauranga boasts a strong urban pulse, a business community with an innovative edge, and the kind of stunning environment that serves as a stellar backdrop on weekends like this when many thousands of visitors descend.

We hope you enjoy a safe, fun and memorable weekend in the Western Bay of Plenty.

Nau mai, haere mai, welcome to our world.