Winter Art Deco: A wet intro, but it’s fine and chilly for Napier festival’s big weekend event

The vagaries of winter weather seem to be controlling interest in the weekend, with national weather agency MetService having a “heavy rain watch” in place for Napier and areas north from 4pm Thursday to 6am Friday, easing to mainly fine weather over the next three days, but with temperatures not exceeding 14C.

Smith said interest was picking up, but tickets were still available for the festival’s feature paid-entry event, the Grand Winter Ball on Friday at the Napier War Memorial Centre, and other events.

There’s a possibly intriguing event in the paid-entry, adults-only Beers, Bars and Brothels at the Art Deco Centre Tennyson-Herscell site, from 3.30pm on both Friday and Saturday.

It will be a nostalgic exploration of social Napier in the 1930s, for which the programme says: “Discover the intriguing tales of not only the bars but also the vibrant world of brothels that thrived in the shadows.”

Numerous dining, musical and festive options are on the programme, along with exhibitions and a large number of tours in the city, by bus, vintage cars, and walking.

Smith said that, while not as big as the Art Deco Festival held in the summer (next on February 19-22, 2026), Winter Art Deco was an opportunity to display the “fine” examples of winter clothing from the Art Deco era.

Doug Laing is a senior reporter based in Napier with Hawke’s Bay Today, and has 52 years of journalism experience, 42 of them in Hawke’s Bay, in news gathering, including breaking news, sports, local events, issues, and personalities.