Festivals bring fun and flavour to summer season
Golden Bay Cultural Food and Wine Festival 2010. Photo: supplied.
Golden Bay Cultural Wine and Food Festival
Sunday 23 January
Organisers are looking forward confidently to Golden Bay’s second Cultural Food and Wine Festival on Sunday 23 January.
The festival takes place on at Kowhatu Grove winery at the top of Richmond Road in Pohara. It starts at 11am and ends at 6.30pm.
“Advance ticket sales are well ahead of last year,” said festival spokesperson Terry Knight. “As of today, Wednesday, there are 700 sold, so we shouldn’t have any trouble getting the crowd of 1500 that we got last year.”
Tickets will be on sale until Saturday at least. They are available from the Pohara Store, Scnapp Dragon Distillery, and the Takaka i-Site. Presales are $16 and gate sales are $20. The cost admission covers the $10,000 entertainment budget and an increased amount of compliance costs.
Terry said that there would be 57 stalls at this year’s festival, up from last year’s 38.
“Our aim is to showcase everything that’s good about the Golden Bay economy. We’re right at the end of the line here and sometimes the smaller businesses especially struggle for exposure. By coming together in a fantastic venue like this and showing off our wares we can get the exposure we need and deserve.”
Attractions that are sure to prove popular this year are face-painting with Tess the clown, archery for young people with Dave Myall, the temporary gallery set up by MONZA Gallery and the carving demonstration by Jocelynne Bacci.
“Kids under 16 get in for nothing and we welcome them, so we want to give them some things to do while their parents enjoy doing the stalls and entertainment,” said Terry.
Neil Wilson
Luminate festival
Thursday 27 to Tuesday 1 February
“If you’re looking for something fun to do this summer that involves music, dancing, performance, education, inspiration and celebration then Luminate Festival might be for you and your whole family,” says Luminate organiser, Jules Harper.
Held from 27 January to 1 February at the Canaan Downs site on top of the Takaka Hill, the earth-friendly, community-focused Luminate is in its fourth year.
This is a family-friendly event with stilt-walking, poi, juggling, hula hooping, puppet shows, storytelling, face painting or bush craft for the kids. There is a Flaming Juggle Poi Toy zone with fire performances by night and a range of circus skills workshops by day, suitable for kids and adults.
Luminate’s line-up of musicians and workshops includes Beats Antique (USA) merge world roots music, middle eastern melodies and vibrant European folk with glitch and dubstep.
Adham Shaikh (Canada) will bring a tremendous tapestry of world beats. Pacific Curls (NZ) seamlessly blend Pacific and Celtic rhythms with evocative Maori instrumentation and lyrics. Mamaku Project (NZ) blend Pacifica dub, electro-oriental jazz and Balkan beats. Hikoikoi (NZ) combine dub, reggae, jazz, funk and African dance rhythms.
Over 100 confirmed acts also include Tina Bridgman, Perfect Stranger (Israel), Khainz (NZ), Dick Trevor (UK), Hedflux (UK), Heyoka (USA) and a plethora of other talent like Karen Hunter (photo below), Matiu Te Huki, Boom Shanti, Chimuka, Mama Yeva, Grouch, Organikismness, Samba del Sol, Ederlezi, Valley Project, Issac Chambers and many more.
“There are also many interactive workshops with quality presenters and facilitators to help you get involved in holistic, environmental, and cultural topics,” says Jules. These cover permaculture, alternative energy, African drumming, harakeke, electronic music production, improvisation, Mayan calendar, yoga, zumba, food self reliance, intentional communities, NVC, poetry, reflexology, holistic healing techniques, spirituality among others.
Tickets includes admission to all workshops, one week’s camping, music, entertainment, eco-showers, toilets and other amenities. The Luminate Festival Trust is registered with the Charities Commission and all proceeds go towards fulfilling is educational, social and environmental objectives.
For tickets and for more information visit www.luminatefestival.co.nz.
SUMMER Food Fair
Sunday 30 January
Despite being totally submerged during Collingwood’s major flood event four weeks ago, the Collingwood Rugby Club’s grounds will host the fourth annual Summer Food Fair on Sunday 30 January.
“The ground was entirely covered, right to the road from the river,” said spokesperson Pete Watkins. “About half a metre went through the clubrooms themselves and we had to decide whether to restore them for the fair. In the end it was decided that this gives us an opportunity to upgrade the clubrooms and move on, so people who come to the fair will be able to see things like the tidemarks and the holes in the walls. It was a bit of a disaster and we didn’t kind of talk about the food fair for about ten days because we all had other more pressing things to do. Then, partly because the raft race had to be cancelled, we thought we’d see if we could pull it together in the time we had left. It’s gone really well. Everyone from last year is in again and there’s going to be a bit more variety. We’ve surprised ourselves actually. It will be interesting to see how the kangaroo and wallaby meat goes, especially.”
Pete said that this year’s fair would feature the most popular attractions like the water slide, the cricket game and what he calls the biggest hit, the four-way tug-of war.
“We’ve also got three live musical acts and a DJ as well. Robin and Lauren Swafford, Rayzanne and Julie Strange and Phil Rogers will provide something for everyone, I’d say.”
The ever-popular hangi will be lifted as usual near the end of the day, and organisers will provide a courtesy coach to get people home safely.
“It’s been a lot of work but, fingers crossed, I think people will be hard-pressed to spot any differences from the other years, which is a major surprise.”
The $25 cost of admission entitles fair-goers to all the food they can eat. Drinks are on sale and the fair runs from 3pm till sundown.
Neil Wilson
