Having taken place over a 12 year period, the HERO Festival was New Zealand's biggest Annual Gay and Lesbian Pride celebration. Like Sydney's Mardi Gras, the festival was a two-week celebration of Gay and Lesbian film, theatre, cabaret, dance and sport culminating in the Hero Parade and an all-night dance party. With international DJ's on three dance floors, the party combined contemporary Gay, Lesbian, Maori and Pacific Island cultures, giving it a truly unique Kiwi flavour and atmosphere.

The Hero Parade was a unique celebration of Gay culture in the Pacific. It had a reputation for producing a deliciously flamboyant and culturally flavoured parade attended by 250,000 people, along with cutting edge cultural and arts events. The Hero Party was renowned for its spectacular shows and its intimate welcoming feel.

Hero was a 'boutique' style festival, which had a strong multi-cultural flavour, celebrating Auckland's position as the first city of the Pacific. The Festival was held in February each year and consisted of five large events produced by Hero, and around 70 associated arts, culture and community events.

Sadly, at this stage the Hero Festival will no longer be organised! The Hero Trust, which had been responsible for the Festival's organisation, is currently in the process of being wound up. A Businessman is however hopefully going to take over the whole Festival but nothing will be finalised for another six months. Keep looking on this site however for the latest up-to-date information!

AwayGay can help you with arrangements to coincide with the Festival once any future dates have been finalised. We would be able to make arrangements for pre-Hero and post-Hero tours and we can tailor-make your itinerary to include Hero and Mardi Gras in Sydney, if required.