The Festival of Transitional Architecture (FESTA) has announced its Christchurch programme for Labour Weekend 2013. FESTA will create a temporary cityscape formed from projects, events and activities for the long weekend, starting on Friday 25 October.

This year’s main event is Free Theatre’s Canterbury Tales – a carnival and procession through the city at night on 26 and 27 October. Along the way sites come alive with performances, soundscapes, music, hospitality and installations. A city-within-a-city is built around this mardi gras of light, colour and animation. Dress up and join the carnival – which includes masked performers and six large-scale puppets – at any point along the procession.

FESTA encourages collective engagement with the city through its temporary cityscape of events, which include performances, cinema, arts, hospitality, workshops and innovative architecture. On Friday 25 October, FESTA celebrates its opening night with Urban Wanderings, where the public is invited to wander through the city from the vintage market to late-night food and animation at ArtBox, view a movie at mobile Picture House for two, repair bikes at a community workshop or take a sauna in a nomadic tent.

Top 5 attractions at 2013 FESTA:

1. Canterbury Tales - processional performances that encourage audience engagement
2. Agropolis - an urban farm
3. Sound Garden - interactive muscial experience
4. Picture House - a mobile cinema for two
5. Nature Play Park - fun in the sun, plus bugs