Events

The Autotrader National Classic Car and Hot Rod Festival is held the third weekend of the new year. Head out to Kumeu in West Auckland via State Highway 16. The Kumeu A & P Shwogrounds is on Access Road (off SH16) and signage will direct drivers to the correct entrance.

Blues, Brews & BBQ's is one of the most popular events on the summer calendar - a family fun day of barbecue fare, fine ales and great music that is held at three locations; Blenheim, Hastings and Mount Maunganui.

The festivals are a celebration of everything that is unique about the traditional kiwi summer lifestyle; our love of outdoor cooking, great music and enjoying an ale or two with good friends and family.

New Zealand is widely recognised for its achievements in wine production and this often overshadows the fact that we have a burgeoning industry producing fine crafted ales that can and do compete with the best anywhere in the world. Blues, Brews & BBQ's pays homage to the craft of brewing enabling small and large brewers alike to present their premier beers to a large and appreciateive audience. For the public it really does represent a unique opportunity to sample a massive range of different styles and flavours. And the range extends to wine, cider and even the odd tipple of schnapps can be found.

The barbecue too is a real taste sensation with some of the leading chefs from each region serving up gourmet grill fare fit for royalty. The culinary menu can only be described as simply delectable with the range typically extending from authentic Indian, Middle Eastern, Ostrich, Westcoast Whitebait to sweets and of course everything else that you would expect from the typical 'barbie'.

All this is served up to a background of easy listening music with a strong 'blues' flavour. The festivals have seen many of the country's best performers lining up to entertain the crowds including icons such as 'Hello Sailor', 'The Winch Brothers', 'Midge Marsden', 'Darcy Perry Blues Band', 'Darren Watson', 'The Coalrangers', 'Bullfrog Rata'. There is even the occasional international artist such as Geoff Lang and the Australian duo 'Wizard & Oz' appeared at a recent Mount Maunganui festival.

2011 saw Americarna embark on its first ever ‘Hutt City’ event and below is what happened.

Thursday 24th February
Today we head for Southwards Car Museum in Paraparaumu.  As we don’t cruise off until 10:00am, start your day by coming to the Petone Working Mens Club, park up ready to leave for the cruise and head into the club where they will be serving a cooked breakfast.  The museum has over 350 vehicles, three aircraft as well as other exhibits including bikes and motorcycles.   We have planned a route that will capture as many of the local Kapiti Coast schools as possible.  So get your American flags ready to greet not only the school children but the locals that will be road side to welcome us!  Once at the Museum take the opportunity to view this extensive collection of vehicles at a small entry fee of $10.00.  There will also be the opportunity for a limited number of entrants to view the restoration workshops.  The onsite Cafe will be catering an American style lunch which will be available for purchase.

Friday 25th February
Today is our cruise to Masterton. Be at the Petone Working Men’s Club ready to cruise off at 10.00am sharp.  We will then head to Masterton via the Rimutaka’s.  Take the opportunity to take in the amazing scenery.  We will be passing as many schools on route to Masterton as possible so keep an eye out for the local children waving you by!!  Once we arrive the plan is to hit the main CBD area, park the cars and be treated to Masterton’s hospitality – shopping, food, drinks, music and much more! 
From 2:00pm you can start heading out of the CBD.  But before leaving Masterton take the time to visit some of the fantastic local attractions: Shear Discovery New Zealand is the home of Golden Shearsand will feature live shearing today; Aratoi Museum of Art and History showcasing the region’s heritage; for wine tasting head south, following the Classic NZ Wine Trail signs, to Gladstone Vineyard; and then for some retail therapy, call into Pauaworld in Carterton and then on to browse through the boutiques in Greytown (and enjoy a reviving coffee before the trip over the Rimutaka Pass).
From here find your own way back to the Hutt City.  Once back, head to your accommodation, freshen up or relax, catch up with friends and get ready to hit Jackson Street for Friday Night Cruising.  The cruise will open at 6.30pm.  Cruise the street, take in the great atmosphere this unique area will be sure to create.  When ready, park up and find yourself one of the fantastic cafe/restaurants to dine at.  More on how and when to enter the cruise will be advised closer to the time.

Saturday 26th February
Americarna moves into the centre of the Hutt where the Country Fair will be held from 10.00am – 4.00pm.  Today will be a day of entertainment and fun with plenty of activities and attractions for the kids, a great line up of music, food, trade and craft stalls.  The heart of the Hutt is only metres away for the ladies that may wish to take in some last minute retail therapy.
6.30pm is the Entrants/Sponsor buffet dinner.  Then the Saturday night After Party will rock off at 8.00pm.  Come and enjoy an evening of food, refreshments and entertainment.  Catch up with friends, let your hair down and party the night away.
The buffet dinner is available by pre-ordering your tickets on your entry form for the event.  (The price for this is yet to be set and will be advised once confirmed).  Payment for the meal tickets is to be made at Registration during the event.

Sunday 27th February
Sunday there is to be a ‘Rock in the Hutt’ Rock n Roll festival in High Street so don’t leave town until you’ve checked it out. 

The New Zealand Masters Games Dunedin will be held from 4 February to 12 February 2012.

A showcase for 2012 will be the new Forsyth Barr Stadium, Dunedin's newest sporting venue. We are anticipating that the new stadium will also be the venue for the games village.

The Marlborough Wine Festival is New Zealand's longest running and most successful wine festivals. Come and sample a unique selection of Marlborough wines along with some delicious local produce and gourmet cuisine. The festival has something for everyone including wine tutorials with the regions' leading winemakers and viticulturists, Thomas's Fashion in the Vines competition, the Food and wine matching competition and fantastic entertainment from some of New Zealand's leading perfor

8000 wine and food lovers come from all over New Zealand and the world to experience New Zealand’s most popular and successful wine festival.

Far from the world's great population centres and from the European and American cities where 20th Century design evolved lies a small city that is unique. Napier, New Zealand, was rebuilt in the early 1930s following a massive Richter 7.8 Earthquake. Subsequent fires destroyed most of its commercial heart. By the end of the decade, Napier was the newest city on the globe.

Nowhere else can you see such a variety of buildings in the styles of the 1930s - Stripped Classical, Spanish Mission, and above all Art Deco, the style of the 20th Century - in such a concentrated area. And Napier's Art Deco is unique, with Maori motifs and the buildings of Louis Hay, admirer of the great Frank Lloyd Wright.

The Art Deco Weekend Summer Festival is made up of many events all of which have a wonderful atmosphere and draw happy smiles from those involved. The Weekend has a special magic all of its own, an escape into a bygone era focussed on the hope of better times ahead. Join the thousands who put on their Deco duds and join in with the music, performers, dancng in the street, steam train rides, aircraft displays, picnics and frivolous fun for days on end. There are almost 100 different events of which many are free to attend.

Southern Hemisphere's largest flower show.

For five days each March, Christchurch's North Hagley Park is home to one of the world's best flower shows and horticultural events - the Ellerslie International Flower Show.

The annual gardening and lifestyle event attracts a global audience of garden designers, garden lovers and international media, championing the best of garden design, garden trends and new products.

Most importantly, the Ellerslie International Flower Show provides the horticultural, floral, landscape design and construction industry with the opportunity to showcase to the world the best of what New Zealand has to offer.

Ellerslie has built a reputation as New Zealand's favourite and best annual flower show and just like the famous Chelsea Flower Show in London forecasts the latest garden design trends and plant fashions.

The Show also supports the grassroots of the gardening industry with a strong focus on community involvement and special displays for floral art groups, horticultural societies and garden clubs.

The Christchurch City Council purchased the Flower Show in November in 2007 and is now working to develop the Ellerslie International Flower Show as one of the top five shows in the world.
    

Over 5,000 people attended the 2010 Havelock Mussel Festival ! 
New Zealand entertainer Frankie Stevens led the entertainment on the main stage, along with The Lady Killers, Aaron Gilmore of ‘Dancing with the Stars' fame and many local acts.

Over 70 stalls offered lots of food, wine and beer as well as jewellery, craft and industry stall displays.

The HMF Cooking demos once again prove a popular attraction with celebrity chefs like Richard Till and Chris Fortune cooking up a storm along with local chef Rebecca Hill from Blenheim Café Figaro’s and wine tasting from Yealands.

The Mussel related competitions such as The Kono NZ Mussel Opening Competition, Mussel Munch and the Sealord Mussel Hustle once again provided much hilarity both for competitors and observers!

See you in March 2011!

Local woman, Claire Bryant, instigated the very first celebration of local wild food. Her wine cellar was very well stocked with a home brew of West Coast gorse flower wine and people were clamouring for a taste of her rose petal brew. So ….. why not a festival celebrating the tastes of the wild West Coast!

The event also coincided with the 125th anniversary of the birth of Hokitika in March 1990.  And so it eventuated ….. locals and the rest of New Zealand were captured by the magic of the idea - a celebration of Hokitika and the wild foods of the West Coast. 

The Wildfoods Festival has become an iconic and premier special event in New Zealand.  The first Festival attracted a crowd of 1,800 and this year’s Festival saw 15,000 people walk through the gate! Attendance peaked in 2003 with 22,500 Festival goers and
numbers are now capped at 15,000.

New wild foods are introduced every year and last year was no exception with such innovations as wasp larvae icecream, cucumber fish, sheep milk cheeses and wok fried clams to name just a few!

Roving entertainment, mingling amongst the crowd, and continuous stage performances enliven the Festival arena with bands, solo artists, mime, comedy, dancers and much, MUCH more to keep you rocking throughout the day and night.

The Festival offers local community groups, individuals and businesses the opportunity to raise funds and profile their products which is an important part of the event.

In 1996, the Wildfoods Festival was awarded the Most Unique Event in New Zealand and has twice been a winner in the New Zealand Tourism Awards.

A competition is held annually to find original artwork for posters and flyers which are distributed nationally and internationally to raise the profile of Hokitika and the Wildfoods Festival.    
 
From the mountains to the sea, a narrow strip of scenic wonders is located on the West Coast of the South Island, New Zealand.
Glaciers, national parks/world heritage area, lakes, rivers, rainforest, wildlife, fauna and people, (“Coasters” as they are called) all interwoven in the untamed wilderness of Westland.  Much of New Zealand’s pioneering spirit is still close to the fore in Westland, making it, in some instances, an untouched region of natural beauty and experiences.

Hokitika has a colourful history - settled in the 1860’s after the discovery of gold, it soon developed into one of the busiest ports in New Zealand. Today it is a town with wide, attractive streets, friendly people and a population of 3,300. Tourism, farming, fishing and forestry provide for the economy.
    
And so to YOU ….. we dare you to grab your friends, family and, most importantly, your
appetite for fun and join us at the next Wildfoods Festival!

In 1988 aviation entrepreneur Tim Wallis presented an airshow and country fair that attracted 14,000 visitors to Wanaka Airport on one day. As the Airshow grew so did its support and now 80,000+ people make the pilgrimage to Wanaka for their weekend of excitement. The Airshow is now a biennial centre piece of Central Otago’s tourist attractions and one of the world’s premier Warbirds Airshows.

Come and join us for three days over Easter when Lake Wanaka will become centre-stage for an extravaganza of aerial action never before seen in New Zealand.

This is one of the four top Warbirds Airshows in the world where you will see some of the most famous Warbirds join forces with the classic aircraft of yesteryear and the modern jets of today, to present a veritable feast of aviation attractions. On the ground, a variety of Warhorse military vehicles, stationary machinery and an Aviation Trade Expo will vie for your attention.
 
The Airshow features all the facilities you would expect of an international event including onsite parking, disabled facilities and children's area. There are many exclusive souvenirs and memorabilia available for purchase to provide lasting memories of this weekend of action and excitement.

For those in the crowd the RNZAF displays are always a highlight, showing that today’s Air Force is an agile, dedicated and professional organisation.

HISTORY OF RALLY NEW ZEALAND

The first international event, the Shell Silver Fern Rally, was organised by the Wellington Car Club in 1969 and was won by Grady Thompson and co-driver Rick Rimmer in a V8 powered Holden Monaro.

In 1970 the Silver Fern Rally was organised by the Canterbury Car Club and run in the South Island with a total of 67 entries.

The Heatway International Rally in 1971 was the first to be accorded international status and attracted 67 entries, with 15 from outside New Zealand. There was franchise support from New Zealand Motor Corporation, Todd Motors and New Zealand Motor Lines. For the first time an overseas team, Australia's Bruce Hodgson and co-driver Mike Mitchell, scored a narrow victory in their Lotus Cortina from the Holden Torana GTR XU1 of New Zealand's Ralph Emson and co-driver Wayne Jones.

Rally New Zealand was first included as a round of the World Rally Championship in 1977, making it the longest running world championship event in both New Zealand and the Southern Hemisphere. Its status has grown internationally, with the 2001 event being awarded the WRC Rally of the Year award.

The current iteration of Rally New Zealand is the product of an event that started in 1969 as a marathon of endurance for everyone involved. What was a long and involved rally in the 1980s with time to rest, repair and develop tactics on a variety of road surfaces has changed to a sprint event of approximately 350km.

Three drivers have won Rally New Zealand on three or more occasions. The first was Carlos Sainz, and co-driver Luis Moya, of Spain who won for the first time in 1990. Sainz was the first driver to successfully defend his title in 1991 and went on to grab a hat-trick in 1992. All three titles were at the wheel of the Toyota Celica GT-4. The likeable Spaniard became the most successful driver in Rally New Zealand history when he gained his fourth victory in 1998.

Next came the reign of Scotsman the late Colin McRae and co-driver Derek Ringer, and the rise of Subaru. McRae won in 1993 and 1994 before emulating Sainz with a third successive win in 1995.

In 2007, Finns Marcus Gronholm and co-driver Timo Rautiainen, took Sainz's crown as the most successful driver in Rally New Zealand history when he beat Sebastién Loeb by 0.3 seconds to claim an exciting victory with the closest winning margin in the history of the WRC.

New Zealand's international rallies have earned a number of other distinctive firsts, including:

The first time a round of the World Rally Championship had been held in the Pacific region;
The first time British Leyland scored World Rally Championship points for some 20 years;
The first time Toyota won both the Group A and N awards on the same event, and;
The first time the Russian Lada team competed outside Europe.
The closest finish in the history of the WRC in 2007

Rotorua becomes the Home of the Blues over Queen’s Birthday weekend. The Rotorua Blues Festival, presents an eclectic mix of blues bands playing downtown in bars and restaurants. Entry to most venues is free of charge.

New Zealand National Agricultural Fieldays is the largest agri-business exhibition in the Southern Hemisphere. New Zealand is a world leader in agriculture and pastoral farming; National Fieldays is the ultimate launch platform for cutting edge agricultural technology and innovation. With over 1000 exhibitors, National Fieldays is essential in keeping up with the latest trends and developments in the agriculture and farming industries.

National Fieldays is held over four days each June attracting in excess of 130,000 visitors from around New Zealand and internationally from 38 different countries. The current exhibition and demonstration space is over 98 acres and boasts over 1,000 exhibitors on 1500 sites.

Held at Mystery Creek Events Centre, National Fieldays is located right in the heart of the Waikato adjacent to Hamilton International Airport, close to State Highways 1 and 3; and just ten minutes from Hamilton, Te Awamutu and Cambridge.

Fieldays has grown significantly from conceptualisation in 1968, the initial aim of the event was to bring town and country together and showcase agriculture. Over 41 years later, Fieldays is now the hub of New Zealand’s agribusiness.

Regarded as New Zealand’s iconic ‘farming’ event; Fieldays is also an event of significant economic importance. In 2008 exhibitors generated NZD$285million resulting from sales through Fieldays. In 2008, Fieldays had a national economic impact of NZD$865 million.

NZ National Fieldays Society is a not for profit charitable organisation; run by a committee of volunteers and a team of over 30 staff members with additional manpower during the event.

Icon’s don’t just happen overnight, and the American Express Queenstown Winter Festival has been 35 years in the making.
Way back in 1975 a bunch of locals decided that the start of Winter was a great excuse to have a party. They organised races on the mountain and in town, lollies for the kids, beers for the grown-ups, a concert or two and a town-wide ball, all of which were a great success.

News spread quickly and the next year people came from further afield to join in the festivities.  Since then the Festival has evolved into New Zealand’s biggest winter party - it’s a 10 day celebration of Queenstown’s unique culture and community with street parties, fireworks, international and local acts, jazz, comedy, Mardi Gras, family fun, rail jams and plenty of Mountain Mayhem. 

The town will be a buzz with around 60,000 people celebrating the arrival of Winter in true Queenstown style.

WHERE IT ALL STARTED....
16 years ago in 1994 the Nelson School of Music Centennial Festival was spectacularly launched to celebrate 100 years of the School's history.

The Centennial Festival was one of the most extravagant Festivals that Nelson had seen and today we strive bring you a programme of musical excellence and a programme that will appeal to as broad an audience as possible.

Over the years the festival has featured some of the biggest names in New Zealand's musical history
    * Dame Malvina Major
    * Michael Houstoun
    * Tim Finn
    * Dave Dobbyn
    * The Black Seeds
    * The Pheonix Foundation
    * Kora
    * Moana & the Moa Hunters
    * Mike Nock
    * Shona Laing
    * Malcolm McNeill
    * Golden Horse
    * Hello Sailor

Over the years the Festival has changed and developed - the auditorium can now be set for dancing or caberat - whatever suits the mood of the show.  We continue the tradition of bringing the finest of New Zealand and local talent to the Festival.

Join us and celebrate winter in Dunedin with Cadbury chocolate! 
Held each year, during the second week of the July school holidays, this week long event just gets bigger and better every year.

An irresistable line up of chocolate events providing entertainment for people of all ages. Be prepared to have fun and celebrate during the week of festivities.  With everything from chocolate theatre to chocolate classes, chocolate decorating, chocolate painting and chocolate facials the public will have the opportunity to participate in a broad range of chocolate themed activities aimed at celebrating winter in Dunedin with Cadbury chocolate.

The famous Cadbury Jaffa Race is held down the world’s steepest street, Baldwin Street, Dunedin. In 2009 30,000 Cadbury Jaffas were rolled down the street and $90,000 raised for charity. The beneficiaries, Parents Centre NZ Inc and The Malcam Charitable Trust, are thrilled to be part of the week’s biggest chocolate event.

The 100% Pure New Zealand Winter Games is unique in the world of winter sports. The concept was an initiative of Sir Eion Edgar.

First held in 2009, the Winter Games NZ is an elite, international winter sports competition, owned and run by the Winter Games New Zealand Trust with the support of the New Zealand Government, the New Zealand Olympic Committee and SPARC.

The Games were established to provide elite winter sports athletes with the opportunity to push the boundaries without the pressure to produce the perfect performance as in the Winter Olympics or the Winter X Games. It provides the ultimate testing ground where the athletes can experiment and explore their limits against world class competition.

The 2009 Winter Games attracted over 800 competitors and 400 supporters and team management with an international television audience reach of 300 million primarily in New Zealand's target tourism markets.

The air is alive with the sound of more than 3000 Kiwi accents. The sold-out arena in New Zealand's capital of Wellington is abuzz with excitement. Entertainers move through the crowd encouraging cheers or applause. At one stage there is even an attempt at a Mexican Wave.

But this is no rugby match. This is Wellington's World of Wearable Art (WOW) awards, a yearly event that claims to be a unique fusion of fashion, art and theatre in a riotous explosion of entertainment.
For 10 days in August/September, more than 35,000 New Zealanders and increasing numbers of international visitors flock to watch designs from around the world compete for more than NZ$100,000 worth of prize money - and be entertained in the process.

It is obvious locals enthusiastically embrace the event, and they dress for the occasion. Young fashionistas brave the cool evening in stilettos and strapless frocks, while the genteel opera crowd are outfitted in semi-formal wear and velvet wraps.  But this isn't really a fashion event either. A surprising number of young men accompany their girlfriends - seemingly without coercion - and grey haired men sit with their families.  There is almost a picnic atmosphere, with a generous number of bottles of New Zealand's ubiquitous sauvignon blanc carried in by the crowd. (The giant Montana wines is a long-time sponsor). It has the air of extreme theatre sports - but better dressed.

Tightly choreographed performers dip, fly and pirouette in a mix of kitsch (think high-kicking cowboys wearing silver lame hotpants) and high operatic farce, complete with a towering diva wearing a large illuminated moon that could pass for horns. But it is the costumes which dominate.

All of this is not bad for a concept which began very humbly in 1987, when founder Suzie Moncrieff decided she wanted to "take the art down off the walls" of her gallery space in Nelson, on the South Island, and put it on the body instead.  Moncrieff, an elegant woman aged 60 with long grey hair, was then a single mother on income support (she jokes how the New Zealand government were WOW's unofficial 'sponsors') struggling to realise her dream of becoming a sculptor.

A musician with no formal theatrical or business training, Moncrieff went through the phone book looking for sponsors, literally knocking on the doors of "big business".  "I didn't even know you needed to make an appointment," she says. She was knocked back; back then, business was interested in sport, not arts. Finally she told a Nelson cafe owner, Eelco Boswijk, of her troubles. How much did she need? Boswijk asked. A lot, Moncrieff told him - $1000.  "He came back with a cheque and handed it over," she says. "He is a great supporter and is now a patron."

WOW now operates with a multi-million dollar budget (organisers won't specify, saying the figure is commercial-in-confidence) and appears to have its pick of New Zealand corporate sponsors.

It generates an estimated $10 million for Wellington traders over its ten day run, says WOW's chief executive officer Gabrielle Hervey and uses hundreds of performers and backstage crew in a fine showcase for Wellington's cultural community, already swelled by the country's film-making boom. In the past, it has even featured members of the Royal New Zealand Ballet.

Four years ago WOW moved from Nelson to Wellington - a move which stirred considerable controversy, but was necessary, says WOW's brand manager Donna Ching, in order to ensure the event continued to grow. (The WOW museum opened in Nelson in 2001; many of the garments which appear in the shows find a home there.)

The more ornate costumes can involve a of huge amount of work and may (rarely) cost up to $4000, not including the cost of freight for more far-flung entrants.  Usually, though, the project is a labour of love. One Wellington entrant recycled hundreds of copper radiator parts, hand cleaning them using nail polish. Another collected 1400 plastic milk bottles for her creation.

With 3,000 athletes coming from all over New Zealand this will be one of the largest sporting events to be held in the South Island.

The games alternate each year between Timaru and Nelson (first time in Nelson last year after usually being held in Christchurch). 

Participants compete in their own age group with no qualifying standards to enter.  The only criteria for entry is a minimum age foreach sport – and for most sports that is 30 years of age.  Simply put - anyone can enter – as long as they’re old enough!

This is an open entry event for everyone over the age of 30– there are no qualifying standards and no requirement to belong to a club.  Participants are encouraged from any area of New Zealand or overseas not just the South Island.

Besides the daily sporting activities, there is a jam-packed nine night social programme that caters for all tastes with themed entertainment featuring live music, dance and serious partying. 

Since its inception in 1989, the NZ Masters Games has grown to become the Masters Games event in New Zealand. Held annually the games rotates between two venues, Wanganui and Dunedin.

The New Zealand Masters Games is famous for its fun and entertaining social programme. 
    * 10 Days of Social Mayhem.
    * Sports and fun activities in the NZCT Village every day.
    * Twilight entertainment from 5pm every day.
    * Top live acts from all round NZ.
    * Relive the thrill of seeing some of your pop idols live.
    * Hang out with Freddy Murphy, Tina Turner, Tom Jones, Austin Powers and more past greats.
    * Move and groove with guys and girls set on having the best time!
     * Claim your bragging rights as you recount your day’s successes on the sports field.
    * Engage in a bit of a friendly competition on the Petanque court.
    * Test your general knowledge in the daily quiz.
    * Look for yourself on the big screen as we bring you the days sporting highlights.
    * Be on the grandstand in front of the big screen when NZ look to claim the Wellington Seven’s title.
    * Nightly light shows that will amaze you.