Bay Harbour: April 07, 2021

Wednesday April 7 2021 Bay Harbour News
Latest Canterbury news at starnews.co.nz
NEWS 9
Celebrating surfing, music and culture
• By Samantha Mythen
CELEBRATION TIME: The Single Fin Mingle festival starts
on Thursday with two musical events planned for the
weekend featuring Kiwi talent There’s a Tuesday and Jed
Parsons.
SINGLE FIN Mingle founder
Ambrose McNeil is quarantining
in managed isolation before
heading to Sumner, to run the
longboard surfing event.
The four-day festival celebrates
a love of longboarding which
will run from Thursday to
Sunday this week and is in its
seventh year.
McNeil is most looking forward
to seeing the community
come together to celebrate and
have a good time at the Mingle.
“It is pretty special to be able
to bring friends from around the
country and the Sumner community
together to participate in
the competition plus do all the
fun things.”
Sumner is the best place to run
the event, McNeil said.
Although the waves are not always
the greatest, the enthusiasm
from the community makes the
event so special.
“The community there are
so supportive and tight-knit.
There are great venues, a beautiful
theatre, amazing bars and
restaurants, surf clubs. The local
businesses really get behind the
event,” McNeil said.
The biggest hurdle for this
year’s Mingle for McNeil has
been actually getting back to
Sumner, having lived in Australia
for the past five years.
“It was touch and go for a
while there,” McNeil said, booking
a spot in managed isolation
proving to be quite difficult.
He is only allowed to leave isolation
the day before the event starts.
The core of the event is the
longboarding competition.
Although the competition is
divided by gender, there are no
age categories, with the youngest
competing 14 and the oldest in
their 60s.
“What makes longboarding
special is that is spans a full age
and gender divide, we can all
chat about the same thing, no
matter your background.”
It is an invitational festival
meaning you have to be invited
to participate.
McNeil said: “The idea behind
this was to make it prestigious
so we can showcase world-class
longboarders.”
McNeil and a few others across
New Zealand scout out potential
participants at surfing competitions,
look for people who stand
out at local beaches and find
others through word of mouth.
But it is not meant to be an
exclusive event.
“Half of it is how good you are;
the talented longboarders who
put effort into perfecting the fine
art of this traditional style of
PHOTO: JONATHAN SMIT
surfing,” McNeil explained.
“The other part of the criteria
is just being a cool, laid-back,
good person.”
The event has developed in
many different ways each year.
In the early days of the Mingle,
its biggest party held 100 people
at a local venue.
This year, it is building its own
venue in the Sumner Village
Mall which can hold 800.
The event has also extended an
extra day and night with more
going on throughout the days.
There are two musical soirees
showcasing local musicians such
as There’s a Tuesday; a film gala
of surf cinematics, and an art
show at LEstrange Gallery.
The ‘Wonderful Warm Up” gig
including Two Minds from Mt
Pleasant was held on Saturday.
A special part of the event
will be the sale of Abrahands
stickers, available for a donation.
The donations will go towards
an alternative mental health
therapy, in memory of McNeil’s
brother Abraham McNeil who
committed suicide in 2019.
“We want to keep the conversation
around mental health
going,” McNeil said.
The Mingle has caught the
attention of an international
audience too.
In 2019, more than 50 surfers
from around the world competed
in the Sumner surf and more
than 100 other internationals
attended the festival.
“I’m blown away every year by
how the festival is growing. It’s
not about getting bigger but it’s
about trying new things to make
the experience better.
“Our goal has always been to
make this the best weekend of
the year,” McNeil said.
EVERYONE DESERVES
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Late nights until 9pm and weekends are available.
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