Tamahere Christmas Festival
Tamahere Christmas Festival
“People just love feeding off each other and getting ideas from each other,” she says. “You learn things and you say, ‘Oh, how do you do this kind of knitting?’ and you just help each other.”
For three weeks every December, the grounds of St Stephen’s Church are transformed into the Tamahere Christmas Festival, a tradition that in 2026 celebrates its 40th year.
As the holiday season gains momentum, inside the hall, shelves overflow with handmade decorations, upcycled gifts, knitted treasures, wreaths, cards, ornaments, and crafted pieces made with love by dozens of volunteers. A temporary tearoom fills with the scent of freshly baked goods and rich Christmas cake. In the church, the sound of school choirs, youth groups, and community musicians drift through the building as visitors gather together.
What began as a modest church fundraiser in the 1980s has evolved into one of Waikato’s most cherished Christmas events, attracting thousands of visitors each year while raising hundreds of thousands of dollars for charity. At the heart of it all are the volunteers who have ensured the festival not only survives but continues to grow.
For organiser Gail Blackwell, the festival’s origins remain central to its identity. “The actual festival and group has been running for a long time,” she says. “It started in a barn on Windmill Road with a group of local parishioners.” Over the decades, as original members grew older, there were moments when the future seemed uncertain.
Rather than allow a 40-year tradition to disappear, a growing group of volunteers stepped in. What followed was something of a reinvention. While the festival may be known publicly for its Christmas-time festive atmosphere, behind the scenes it operates as a year-round creative engine with preparations beginning in January.
And a central purpose of the festival lies in what happens after the crafts are sold. For four decades, proceeds have gone directly back into the community, supporting local organisations and causes. “I think all along it’s been…getting together to create and make Christmas stuff to be sold to raise money for local charities,” fellow organiser Val Nixon says.
“Over the years, hundreds of thousands of dollars have been donated to local charities. And now our focus is on families and children in the Waikato,” Blackwell says.
In the past year alone, the festival has supported organisations including Hamilton Foodbank, True Colours Children’s Health Trust, Kids in Need Waikato, and the church’s own renovation fund.
“People are just keen to make things, right,” says Blackwell. “The brief is Christmas. It doesn’t always have to be Christmas-related; it is also about gifts for Christmas.”
Unlike many organised craft programmes, volunteers are not assigned tasks. Instead, participants are encouraged to follow their own creative instincts. “We don’t ever tell people what to do,” Blackwell explains. “Come up with an idea, bring a prototype in, and be open.”
That openness has become one of the festival’s creative strengths. Nixon says the collaborative process allows ideas to evolve naturally.
“People just love feeding off each other and getting ideas from each other,” she says. “You learn things and you say, ‘Oh, how do you do this kind of knitting?’ and you just help each other.”
It means no two volunteers contribute in the same way. Some knit miniature decorations. Others sew, arrange florals, design books, build wreaths, or create large statement pieces for the Christmas shop. “Everybody has their own skill set,” Blackwell says. “Some will come with beautiful handmade little decorations. Other people will be doing huge trees or wreaths if that’s their thing.”
This collaborative creativity is not about individual recognition. Once an item is donated, labelled, and priced, it becomes part of the collective mission. “At that point, it no longer belongs to you,” Blackwell says. “Anyone can then pick it up and say, ‘Well, I can add to that.’” That communal ownership reflects the spirit of the entire festival.
Selecting recipients for the festival proceeds is handled democratically. “Everybody’s on the committee,” Nixon says. The group meets regularly over shared morning teas and lunches, discussing causes and voting together on where the funds should go.
That transparency and collective ownership has helped strengthen trust within the group and the wider community. Although the festival’s charitable outcomes are significant, volunteers say one of its most powerful impacts happens long before December. The weekly craft groups, one in the morning and one in the afternoon, have become an important source of connection.
When Nixon and Blackwell first became involved, only a handful of people attended. “We started with our four or five,” Blackwell says. Now, attendance has grown to more than 20 regular participants. “There’s no compulsion to come to it,” she says. “People come because they want to.”
The social reach of the group extends well beyond Tamahere. “We’ve got someone who comes from Huntly every week,” Blackwell says. “We’ve got people on the other side of Cambridge coming.”
For Nixon, those friendships are just as valuable as the fundraising. “People all have different talents that we bring in with us,” she says. And importantly, creative experience is not a requirement. “You don’t have to be particularly crafty,” Nixon adds. “There’s always jobs to do.”
Another defining feature of the festival is its commitment to sustainability. Rather than relying heavily on new materials, volunteers actively seek donated supplies, visit op shops, and repurpose forgotten items. “We try not to buy too much,” Blackwell says. “It’s all found stuff which we reuse.”
Nixon says years of collecting have created a treasure trove of materials. “We have a huge supply of resources that have built up over the years because we like to upcycle and recycle as much as possible,” she says. Items such as buttons, fabric, bows, wool, ribbon, and books that might otherwise end up discarded are transformed into something new and meaningful. It is creativity with both environmental and social impact.
For many visitors, the festival has become a family ritual. “People have said, ‘Oh, my mum used to bring me here when I was a kid and now, I’m bringing my kids,’” Nixon says. That generational connection is visible everywhere during the festival. Families return year after year to buy a single decoration, enjoy tea and cake, and hear the choirs. “It is generational,” Blackwell says. “Definitely.”
The tearoom has become part of that tradition. “We use nice china and we serve Christmas cake and shortbread,” Nixon says. Blackwell adds that it may be “the only café at Christmas that sells homemade Christmas cake.” Those small touches help to create something special.
A further important aspect of the festival is its focus on inclusion. Each year, invitations are sent to rest homes, retirement villages, and care facilities throughout the Waikato. In 2025 alone, nearly 1,800 people attended the church carol services, including 27 organised care groups.
According to Sue Burns, vicar of St Stephen’s Church, that focus has become a strength of the festival. “Everybody here is really amazingly gifted at making other people feel welcome,” Burns says. “And it’s just a real team.”
Nixon’s professional background in care and occupational therapy has helped shape this outreach. “I’ve worked in rest homes for a long time in my career and just know that it’s nice for people to get out and participate in something that brings joy,” she says. For residents arriving in wheelchairs or using walkers, the experience can be deeply emotional. “It’s heart-warming for people to be able to come in their wheelchairs and their walkers and get out and enjoy the day.”
What visitors see in December represents an extraordinary volunteer effort. Burns estimates between 4,500 and 5,000 volunteer hours are generated through the festival each year. That commitment runs from organising school choirs and musicians, to staffing the shop, preparing the tearoom, setting up displays, transporting supplies, coordinating rosters, and welcoming visitors.
“We need ten people a day to run it,” Blackwell says. Yet volunteers continue to arrive. Some knit from local retirement communities. Others help in the café, the shop, or with setup. The result is a festival that belongs to everyone who contributes.
Despite its success, the organisers remain focused on preserving what made the festival special in the first place. “I just hope we can fit everyone in still because it’s growing so fast,” Blackwell says.
Nixon says the continued growth has surprised many. “I’ve been amazed when we were unsure whether to keep going,” she says. “But actually people love coming and creating community.”
And while fundraising remains a source of pride, Nixon insists it has never been the sole purpose. “Although we get a real buzz out of the money that we make, it’s not all about making money,” she says. “It’s just sharing with each other and learning because we enjoy this.”
After 40 years, the Tamahere Christmas Festival has become far more than a seasonal event. It is a place where creativity has led to connection, where every handmade gift and decoration carries with it the powerful act of giving back to the community.