Cuba Dupa

Wellington’s biggest street festival is back, bigger and better than ever before. We’ve not been for a while, and during la pandemia it was obviously a no-go. The festival is dance, music, street theatre, parades, and food, with various stages and areas set up for performance as well as the more mobile events. It starts on a Friday night, and on Saturday goes on late into the night, finally winding up on Sunday early evening.

As we’d volunteered for the Fringe Festival, we’d also signed up for Cuba Dupa. This involved two shifts for me, and one for Nicola (because orchestra on Saturday). Fortunately the weather was good – it being early autumn now, the weather can be a bit chancy – and whilst it was breezy on the Saturday, this didn’t seem to dampen anyone’s enthusiasm.

My first shift was helping out at the information stand on Cuba Street (there was another stand a little further away on Leeds Street car park), which also sold merchandise. The merch this year consisted of second-hand t-shirts, being recycled with a Cuba Dupa logo: these were either pre-printed, or you could select your own shirt and have a different design printed on them on the spot. This proved to be quite a popular option. Other items on sale were tote bags and reusable cups – a lot of the people who were attending, particularly into the night, were bar-hopping down Cuba Street to various venues and events. I was also able to watch the parades that went past during my shift, including a Bollywood-style dancing troupe.

My second shift on Sunday was a bit more tedious – managing the Green Rooms at Te Auaha. There were far fewer performances on Sunday, so in fact there were only three groups on during my shift – a wind and brass band and two dancing groups. They didn’t require much from me so most of my time was spent trying to find somewhere comfortable to seat and while away the hours, and directing people to the toilets.

After each shift I went on a bit of a stroll to get some pics to try to capture the atmosphere.