Charlie Jackson/Team Event
More than 8500 festival-goers had about 75 wine and food stalls to choose from on Saturday.
Without a “sniff” of rule changes, an event organiser says the upcoming festival season is looking to be one of their best yet.
Around 8500 foodies donned hats and sunglasses to attend the South Island Wine and Food Festival in Christchurch on Saturday, initially postponed in 2021 due to Covid-19 restrictions.
More than 40 of the South Island’s best wineries, as well as 35 food exhibitors and restaurants from around Canterbury, hosted stalls across Hagley Park.
Clare Steel of Team Event, who organised the festival, said the crowds were “delighted to be back”.
READ MORE:
* Beer, wine festivals and specialist food expos continue South Island’s summer lineup
* Summer of fun: What’s on, what’s off and what’s up in the air following the new Covid-19 traffic light restrictions
* Summer festivals confirmed for Cantabrians ‘hungry’ for something to do
It had been a relief for her team to not have to work around restrictions – “there’s not even close to a sniff of changing how things are run” she said – however the experience had made the team more resilient.
“Rather than plan your way out of an uncertain situation, we just need to be prepared to deal with it,” she said.
Charlie Jackson/Team Event
The event was just the start of the summer festival season.
New to Christchurch and Hagley Park this month would be Ōtautahi Smoke, a barbecue and brews event, on December 17.
On January 14, Live in the Park would return and attract between 15,000-20,000 punters, followed by the Great Kiwi Beer Festival on January 28.
One of the biggest Christchurch events, also run by Team Event, was Electric Avenue, which Steel said attracted around 30,000 attendees, most of whom she expected would buy their tickets before Christmas.
