On Februrary 3, 1931 at 10:47 a.m., a 7.8 magnitude earthquake leveled the city of Napier, New Zealand. It killed 256 people, and remains the deadliest natural disaster in New Zealand history. Napier remembers the quake each year, but not with a somber memorial. Napier throws a party; one of the best I’ve ever attended.
The city rebuilt after the quake, and did so in the most popular architectural style of that time: art deco.
The party is an art deco festival. It runs for five days; five days of music and fashion and vintage cars and much more. People come from all over the world to come to the party. And they REALLY get into it.
We had no idea this festival existed when we booked this trip. We came to Napier to see the gannet colony nearby. It’s as if we booked an autumn trip to Munich to see Deutsches Museum, and were surprised to find out we were there in the middle of this big beer festival. In travel as in poker, it is better to be lucky than be good.