No general account of Island Bay can omit the February Festival, held every year since 1985, and since 1988 incorporating the Blessing of the Fleet. There were earlier spasmodic festivals; galas back in the 30's and 40s, carnivals in the 50's (the royal visit early 1954 saw an open air concert and dancing in Reef St), co-operation with Wellington Festivals such as that held in 1959, and the occasional local festival as in 1961 and 1976. But keeping it up for nearly 30 years is pretty good going, and reading through the Festival programmes since 1985 provides us with valuable snapshots each year of the people, the institutions and the activities enjoyed and valued in the Bay.

The Encampment had been anticipated for a couple months and advertised for some weeks in at least 13 newspapers with readers in central New Zealand. It was the first event of its kind to be held in the district, and was expected to draw large crowds, in particular for Saturday's events which included a ‘Grand Cavalry Tournament’ with 15 events and three open horse races, while on Monday spectators could enjoy a ‘Grand Troop Review and Sham Fight’ in which about 700 volunteers were expected to take part.

As well as the Wellington Garrison, at least 400 volunteer visitors were expected to attend from nearby regions. These included members of the Makara, Kaiwarra and Masterton Rifles, the Alexandra Cavalry, two infantry companies and the Naval Brigade from Wanganui, and some 175 men from Nelson. The Nelson and Wanganui men came by ship. “On reaching the wharf the visitors will be received by one or more of the local officers, and conducted out to the camp where a meal will be in readiness for them. Vehicles for the transport of their haversacks to Island Bay will be provided, as will also be horses to draw the field pieces out to Island Bay”. It is not recorded when members of the Makara, Kaiwarra and Masterton Rifles arrived but the Nelson contingent docked Friday morning on a specially chartered steamer, the Charles Edwards, and the Wanganui Contingent, apart from the Cavalry, arrived in the coastal steamer Go-Ahead an hour later. By 9.30am both contingents were drawn up near the Provincial Buildings and marched to Newtown, accompanied by their bands which played alternately. Once again several hundred people turned out to see their departure and also escorted them to Newtown. The Alexandra Cavalry was waiting in Newtown and escorted the citizen soldiers into camp. Total numbers for the Encampment under the command of Colonel Pearce were finally established as 655.

The accommodation included over 90 bell tents, as well as several marquees for the accommodation of the officers, “the whole forming a very picturesque sight”. The cooking quarters were placed on the western side of the Park under the hillside, and at a short distance in front of them were the hospital tent, the canteen and a general grocery store. Also regarded as essential was a hairdressing salon and tobacconist shop. Uncooked rations were served out each morning and the companies were obliged to make their own arrangements for cooking. The visitors were supplied with culinary utensils but the local garrison were required to supply their own. The officers, however “will mess together at the Island Bay Hotel” some 500 yards away, which also provided meals for the public “at a reasonable charge.” Reveille was sounded by bugle at 6am, breakfast was at 8am, dinner at 1pm, tea at 4.30. For the first two days there was some grumbling about inadequate rations, but the officers declared it was their aim “that the fare shall be as similar as possible to that which usually falls to the lot of a soldier in camp.” The ration supplied to each private each day was: 1 ½ lbs meat, 1 ½ lbs bread, 1lb mixed vegetables, 3oz sugar, ½ oz tea, ½ oz salt, 1 gill milk and 1/6oz pepper. This ration cost 1s 3d daily. No details are given for other ranks but the “sergeants mess together at the rear of the canteen, the cost of their rations being somewhat greater than in the case of privates”.

Friday was a quiet day as the troops spent it in general doing fatigue duty and very little drill, but the encampment was still visited by many people “who appeared to take a keen interest in the doings of the citizen soldiery.” The various bands were much in demand on all four days, playing to civilian spectators during the day and at the Hotel to officers and Hotel patrons at night. In the evening a number of the Wanganui and Nelson men obtained leave of absence for a few hours and visited the big city to enjoy themselves. At the encampment itself “although the canteen and hotel did a good business until a late hour, there was a gratifying absence of drunkenness amongst the volunteers on the ground, and it was not found necessary to incarcerate anyone either for insubordination or intoxication.”

Saturday saw much more activity, with drills at both battalion and company level in the morning. Meanwhile the cavalry amused themselves by practising difficult feats of horsemanship, which created much interest and excitement among the many spectators. They also enjoyed a competition between the Wellington Naval Artillery, the H Battery (Nelson) and the D Battery (Wellington) which fired with big guns at a target placed on the Island from in front of the hotel. Six crews competed, each firing six shots and six shells. “The firing was excellent, the Wellington Artillery winning by a few points.” In the afternoon the cavalry paraded for about an hour, horse races were held, followed by athletic sports, all watched by many spectators. Admittance to the camp on Saturday and Monday was 1s, for adults on foot, 1s 6d for equestrians and 2s 6d for vehicles, while other days were free. Full details of the horse races and athletic sports results are given in the Evening Post of 14 April. 

Sunday saw very little activity in the camp, apart from some parade practice and a church service for all at 11am. In the afternoon most volunteers received leave to go to town and did so. It was generally understood in camp that an alarm would be given during Sunday night/Monday morning to test the efficiency of the force. In the event no official alarm sounded but two were given by some outsiders, at 11pm and 1am, and in each case the men turned out “with alacrity.”.