The five-day event begins with a mihi whakatau (official welcome) at the Edgar Centre, in Portsmouth Dr, at 5pm today.
One hundred and forty-four schools and early childhood education centres are set to perform throughout the week.
Te Pārekereke o te Kī bilingual centre head teacher Toroa Pōhatu was brought to tears when she reflected on the journey since the festival began.
"This is special, for us and for all the people who have gone through."
There will be about 4500 pupils performing this year with schools from as far as Oamaru present.
"It’s inspiring; something that started from about six or seven [schools] to the biggest being 168, we’re seeing it now start to bubble."
She felt grateful for those who contributed to the festival’s growth and felt proud of what they had achieved.
"If you build it all on one person, it will go and fall, but if you build it on the many, it will stand."
She described a change in energy over the past 30 years and said pupils now had pride and "walk with confidence".
The event included a new area called "the village" with more than 80 food stalls, various lounge areas and a health clinic.
The organisers recruited rangatahi (youth) who had been working hard to help set up the event and painted the Polyfest stage.
Ms Pōhatu said she hoped that by training young people in event management, they would have safe hands to leave the event to in the future.
Otago Polyfest’s general manager Pip Laufiso, who has been involved in the festival since 1998, explained the importance of the event to Dunedin’s youth.
"Over the years I’ve heard rangatahi say to me — it’s our one time, it’s our space where people get to see what we can do. We’ve all experienced being involved in other types of festivals that have cultural foundations and concepts that are not ours and so they do become uncomfortable places to be ...
"They don’t uplift our ways of being or our cultural practices, so this event we try hard to exemplify and stress those things."
Although Polyfest had a focus on Maori and Pacific groups, she said the festival was for everyone to enjoy.
"Polyfest is open for everyone and it has been from the beginning. It’s not only Māori or Pacific students involved, it’s everybody, the doors open for everyone."
