Fiesta fireworks back with a bang

The big bangs return to the Fiesta of Lights tonight, with fireworks reinstated for the event's New Year celebrations.

Organiser Te Rangi Huata said public feedback and additional sponsorship meant the return, after last year's absence, of the traditional children's fireworks display at 9.30am, and another at midnight. The public can also enjoy the light show and sideshows before the fireworks.

Numbers attending the event, which opened on December 19, were the best in 10 years, Mr Huata said. "On Christmas Eve more people attended than on New Year's Eve last year."

With rain threatening, organisers had a contingency plan to move the fireworks displays from the open fields to the show ring in front of the 3000-seat grandstand.

Meanwhile, Napier's official New Year's Eve celebrations, at the Sound Shell on Marine Parade, will also culminate in a fireworks display.

The 13th Fiesta of Lights continues until January 7.