‘Awesome turn out’ for celebration of South Dunedin

From hip-hop dancers to wheelchair rugby players, the diversity of South Dunedin was on display as hundreds of people crowded King Edward St for the 2021 South Dunedin Street Festival on Saturday.

South Dunedin Community Network festival co-co-ordinator Grace Hannah estimated a 50% increase in the number of people in the street from previous years, and called it an "awesome turnout".

King Edward St was packed with visitors during the South Dunedin Street Festival on Saturday. PHOTOS: GERARD O’BRIEN

The street party was all about changing the narrative of South Dunedin, Ms Hannah said.

Merle Talalima-Wineti performs with He Waka Kotuia, the King’s and Queen’s High Schools Maori performing arts group.

Surprises such as Dunedin artists Claire Rye and Michaela Corcoran’s interactive mural, painted by any children at the festival who wanted to, and the South Dunedin-based boutique independent game development studio Balancing Monkey Games showed there was a lot on offer in the neighbourhood, she said.

Otago wheelchair rugby captain Dillon Maydon shows Flynn Crossan (8), of Oamaru, the basics of the game at the South Dunedin Street Festival on Saturday.

"Often there’s a narrative of ‘Ooh, poor South Dunedin, they got the floods’ — but actually there’s so much cool stuff going on. We want people to see that stuff."

King Edward St was closed on Saturday from Macandrew Rd to Hillside Rd, filled with more than 50 stalls and "good vibes".