Dear people living in the gardens,

My name is Miya Botha, and I have been living in The Gardens Community for almost 7 years now. As most of you probably know, we have a holiday called “Matariki” coming up. If you don’t know what Matariki is, to sum it all up..  Matariki is the tale of 7 star sisters, and can be a sign of many things.

I have started to think about the ways people celebrate Matariki, one in particular. Coming together. And what event brings people closer together, and is full of laughter and joy? Parades. We should raise money for a Matariki parade.

We can all do this by selling things we bake, or donating to raffles, plenty of stuff. The parade would be awesome, people could enter it and design floats, hire marching bands, and show their cars off. But, obviously. The theme would be Matariki.

This parade should be held before the crack of dawn, and end sometime around night. Matariki should be visible then, too. Competitions for the best float, band, costumes, everything will go out. But most importantly, it’s spending time with our whanau and friends.