Hamsterfest

The Hamilton Folk Festival, colloquially known as Hamsterfest, is a family friendly festival, held over Easter weekend, that celebrates all folk and acoustic music. Highlights include concerts from national guest artists, blackboard concerts, workshops, a tradition bearers session, a cèilidh, and a main concert on the Sunday night. Hamsterfest is notably more hands on than other music festivals, with plenty of opportunities for attendees to perform and informal jam sessions liberally scattered throughout the weekend.
The Easter Folk Festival is the highlight of our year. It has previously been held at Gordonton, Te Aroha Racecourse, Matamata Racecourse, the Matangi Hillcrest Sports Club and it is now held at the Paeroa Racecourse. The Festival runs from Thursday evening to Monday morning, with most people camping on site, enjoying guest concerts, music workshops, a ceilidh (dance) on the Saturday night and the final concert on the Sunday night. You can come for a day, a night or the whole weekend!