The Greater Green Island Community Network was set to host an event on Friday to celebrate the painting of three new murals on a toilet block at Emerson St Playground.
Activities planned at the event included the eating of sizzled sausages and play on bouncy castles.
Then four cases of community transmission were discovered in South Auckland on August 11.
The next day, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern moved Auckland to Alert Level 3 and the rest of the country, including Dunedin, to Alert Level 2.
Ms Ardern extended the lockdown settings by 12 days until 11.59pm on Wednesday, August 26.
In Level 2, gatherings could have up to 100 people, and consequently the mural opening was cancelled.
About 1pm yesterday, director-general of health Dr Ashley Bloomfield said there were six new cases of Covid-19 in New Zealand yesterday — five cases of community transmission linked to the South Auckland cluster and a woman, aged in her 50s, who is in managed isolation after travelling to New Zealand from Qatar via Sydney.
The other five cases are in the community, all linked to the South Auckland cluster.
"There are now 125 people in the community who have been moved into the Auckland Quarantine Facility including 61 people who have tested positive," Dr Bloomfield said.
Five people with Covid-19 were being cared for in hospital, he said.
On Friday, The Star met the two mural artists at the site of the cancelled event.
The artists, Jonny Waters and Claire Rye, were relaxed about the cancellation.
"We missed our ego boost," Rye laughed.
" We didn’t really need an ego boost," Waters said.
Rye, of Kaikorai Valley, painted the mural on the southern side of the block.
The project stakeholders — the network, Keep Dunedin Beautiful, Dunedin City Council — had provided a brief for the mural of "living in harmony with the natural environment", she said.
Waters, of Waverley, painted the mural on the northern side.
"My mural is about community and young people understanding their roots."
Both artists collaborated on the mural on the eastern side.
The mural includes words written by 19th century American poet Ralph Waldo Emerson, the namesake of the street and the park.
The words say: "Live in the sunshine, swim in the sea, drink the wild air".
Another Dunedin event to be cancelled was Special Rigs for Special Kids on August 23.
Organiser Greg Inch said it was with a "heavy heart" he cancelled the event for the first time in its 29-year history.
He felt like he was letting people down but it was a necessary move in these "unusual and hard times".
Everyone involved in the event had supported his decision.
The event would return next year, he said.
