Multidimensionality of nostalgic festival experiences: The Art Deco Festival case

Heritage festivals are interactive spaces imbued with stimuli to evoke feelings of nostalgia. This qualitative study draws on the narratives of attendees to the Art Deco Festival in Napier, New Zealand, to examine the nostalgia experience. Through in-depth interviews and thematic analysis of festival visitors, event organisers, and local businesses, the findings reveal four distinct types of nostalgia within the festival context: historical, personal, collective, and virtual. These different types of festival nostalgia and their characteristics can be grouped into four-by-two classification: place-based and time-based nostalgia, object-based and experience-based nostalgia, individual-based and collective-based nostalgia, and direct-based and indirect-based nostalgia. This classification contributes to a more nuanced understanding of the conceptualisation and operationalisation of nostalgia which have important implications for researchers and festival management of nostalgic destinations. •The Napier Art Deco festival represents a novel context for examining nostalgia experiences in a historical-inspired festival.•In-depth interviews and thematic analysis of festival visitors, event organisers, and local businesses.•Four distinct types of nostalgia within the festival context were identified: historical, personal, collective, and virtual.•The different forms of festival nostalgia and their characteristics can be grouped into four-by-two classification.