Downtown Tauranga came alive at lunchtime today as about 600 Bay of Plenty Polytechnic students wore fancy dress in the street parade as part of O-week.

Orientation week is the social start of the academic year for the students and is an itinerary of outrageous extroversion designed to help form new friendships and improve old ones.

Students took advantage of the fine weather at lunch time to enjoy their annual CBD parade in downtown Tauranga.

Among the week's highlights is today's street parade, which started from the reclamation car park, and went around the central business district and then back to The Strand.

It is customary for the students to wear fancy dress, but this year many wore red and black in support of the Canterbury earthquake relief effort.

This parade was followed by a pizza eating competition and live music at the Edgewater Fan.

Tomorrow sees students engaging in jelly wrestling at the Windermere Campus.