24 October 2024 - 3 November 2024
From street parades to visual art.
Nelson Arts Festival is New Zealand’s longest-running annual regional festival, which is a fantastic mix of theatre, music, dance, circus, writers, and visual arts. A defining highlight of the Nelson Arts Festival is the much-loved Mask Parade, where everyone comes to town for the best street party ever. From whole schools of littlies in self-decorated masks to wild and wondrous costumes worn by famous-townsfolk-in-disguise, the carnival and parade is a heart-bursting spectacle of creativity, colour and music.