The festival presents a wide variety of cultural experiences, including traditional cuisine and performances from Samoa, Tonga, Cook Islands, Fiji, Niue, Tahiti, Tokelau, Tuvalu, Kiribati and the Tangata Whenua (New Zealand Māori).

His idea to create an event to celebrate the cultures of the South Pacific came to realisation in February 1991 when he showed his proposal to several high-ranking officials of South Pacific nations: Cook Islands Consul General Bill Te Ariki, Papua New Guinea Consul General Alister Martin and others.

[3] The newly formed South Pacific Island Nation Development Agency accumulated feedback from the community and changed the location to Western Springs a week and a half before the event;[4] Western Springs was supported by the mayor, Les Mills, and the City Council.

[7] Despite some initial scepticism and remarks on lack of representation in an evaluation report delivered by Nancy Sheehan, overall it was successful.

In 1997, after a reorganisation, Auckland City Council encapsulated[clarification needed] the Pasifika committee and the support from the South Pacific Island Nation Development Agency became redundant.

[18]The 2002 festival was jointly organised by Mere Lomaloma Elliot and a non-Pacific event manager, but it was deemed unsuccessful due to the lack of mutual understanding between them.

[24] The question of Māori exclusion bothered many people, but the organisers could not immediately find a solution that would be appropriate for all parties involved.

[27] In 2015, the festival was moved temporarily to Hayman Park in Manukau after the discovery of Queensland fruit flies in the Grey Lynn area near Western Springs.