Seashells are not the usual thing to put in a kiln. But the members of the Invercargill Pottery Club have spent part of this year working with exactly that, and from tonight the results are on show, the first of a run of events that will keep central Invercargill busy through Saturday night.
The club's exhibition, Firing, Form and Function, opens at the Art Attic Gallery at 5.30pm today and stays up until Saturday 12 December, according to a community notice published by Radio Southland. The centrepiece is the club's 2026 Collaboration Project, which involved a large pit fire as well as an Oribe firing. Oribe is a Japanese approach dating back to the 16th century, and the club's version made use of seashells along with iron oxide decoration and a glaze the notice describes as bottle green. People are welcome at the opening, or can call in any time before the show closes.
Saturday is the bigger day. Local makers, growers, producers and creators are gathering under one roof at Invercargill Central from 10am to 4pm, the Radio Southland notices say, with the aim of letting shoppers meet the people behind Southland-made products.
Later in the afternoon the focus moves outside. The Multicultural Street Food Market will take over Esk and Don Streets in the city centre from 4.30pm to 8.30pm. It costs nothing to get in, and the programme lists international kai, live music and dancing by community groups from around the region.
Drivers need to plan around it. Esk and Don Streets will be shut to traffic from 2pm until 10pm on Saturday, a window that starts well before the first food is served and ends well after the last.
For anyone who would rather dance than eat, That 80s Band is playing the Corinthian Convention Centre at the Invercargill Working Men's Club, 154 Esk Street, from 7pm to 10.45pm on Saturday. Eventfinda lists general admission at $40. The band promises a night of 1980s pop hits played live, and organisers are encouraging people to turn up in their loudest gear from that decade.
Out of town, Winton holds its annual open day on Saturday from 10am to 4pm. The Eventfinda listing promises street stalls, Santa, live entertainment and music, with market stalls inside both the Memorial Hall and the Presbyterian Church hall, and a street parade at 2.30pm.
The regular fixtures carry on as well. The free Invercargill parkrun sets off at 8am on Saturday from the Feldwick Gates at Queens Park, and on Sunday the Southern Farmers Market runs from 9.30am to 1.30pm at Invercargill's old railway station.
So the weekend begins with pots that have been through the fire and ends, for the late crowd, with 1980s pop. In between, two of the city's main streets will be handed over to food, music and dancing for the evening.
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