Parachute Music Festival

Parachute Music Festival
Parachute 2010 Mainstage in the late afternoon before headliners at night
Background information
Origin	El Rancho Christian Camp, Waikanae, New Zealand
Years active	1991-2014
Labels	Parachute Music Ltd.

The Parachute Music Festival was a Christian music festival held annually in various venues in New Zealand between 1992 - 2014 with the event being held at Mystery Creek Events Centre, Hamilton, New Zealand from 2004. It was previously held at Totara Springs in Matamata and El Rancho, Waikanae The festival was run by Parachute Music and usually lasted for three nights and four days. It was held the weekend before Auckland Anniversary Day, in late January. 'Parachute' was one of the largest Christian music festivals outside of the United States and it was one of the largest multi-day festivals in the Southern Hemisphere. Primarily featuring musicians and guest speakers, the festival was also the longest running festival of any kind in New Zealand.

The Parachute Music Festival attracted around 25,000 people each year. The largest crowd came in 2007, with 27,813 attendees. Most people who attend stay on-site in tents and caravans, and a large village area supplies food, amenities and band merchandise.

Each year artists apply to play at Parachute which gives an opportunity for musicians to have their music heard by a large audience at a popular event. Bands applying must have a pastoral reference, that is a reference from a church leader, to ensure that the core members of any act are committed Christians. In some cases individual members of a band will not be Christian but Parachute see this as a good way to involve people in the festival community. While many local bands from New Zealand apply, Parachute receive applications from all over the world. Parachute Music also invite a number of headline artists each year to perform at the festival. Around 100 bands from many different genres play at Parachute each year.

The festival is aimed at a wide demographic ranging from families to teenagers. It is classified as a non-denominational Christian event, with enforced bans on drugs or alcohol and unmarried couples being discouraged from tenting together. However, a large percentage of non-Christian people do attend. Because Parachute is a non-denominational Christian festival, events such as Catholic Mass and Anglican Eucharist take place over the weekend.

The Festival is covered by most New Zealand media and is a well known event of the New Zealand summer. It has also been supported by and has been in partnerships with a number of businesses and organisations - Some examples are Coca-Cola, Sanitarium, V, Pepsi, Vodafone and The NZ Police.