Whānau from all over Auckland flocked to the Te Pou Arts Center for a fun-filled day, where they enjoyed story-telling, kai and whanaungatanga.
Event organiser Amber Curreen (Ngāpuhi) says, "They can come on in and they can go and get their face painted, they can go and bounce on a bouncy castle, get out lots of energy and then come and sit and enjoy a story."
The event, hosted by Te Pou Theatre, is part of the Kōanga Festival, which was created 5 years ago and spans 15 days.
Curreen says the whānau day specifically is not only a fun day out, but a way to uphold Māori theatre.
"We don't want Matariki to be the only time where you see Māori arts happening, where you see theatres programming Māori arts. We want to make sure that it's Māori arts all the time," she says.
The focus is not isolated to theatre as an art form only, but to perpetuate an ancient tradition of oral story telling.
"It's so important for us to pass on our stories orally, in the ways of our tūpuna," Curreen adds.
The last day of the Kōanga Festival will be on September 15th.