Feasting at a beast of a festival

Newly weds Sharion Noble (left) and Mark Noble at Beast of a Feast. Photo/George Novak

Trails of people lined Newton St at Mount Maunganui as people made their way to the inaugural Beast of a Feast festival.

The craft beer and street food event was held at Mount Park, formerly known as Brewers' Field, and attracted hundreds of people throughout the day.

Organiser Chris Duffy said the aim of the event was to celebrate some of the craft beer and street food providers and provide a relaxed atmosphere for people to have a good time.

''We've got a lot of local breweries here and we definitely want to try to support them as much as we can. We've got a few national ones here as well.

''It's not specifically a music festival as such. It's more of a mash-up of all sorts really, just offering something different.''

The event was broken into two sessions, with a break in serving alcohol during the early afternoon.

Live music, lawn games, and ping-pong was among the entertainment, plus a hot dog eating competition hosted by comedian Cori Gonzalez-Macuer, of 7 Days fame.

Callum Barnett won first place after devouring nearly three hot dogs.

''I wasn't planning on it,'' he said.

''They just needed someone so I said 'I'll have a crack'.''

Newlyweds Sharion and Mark Noble were down from Auckland and were keen to spend the day at the festival.

The Auckland-based couple got married on December 10 and were in town visiting friends who joined them at the event.

''We've got another wedding in a few days so we thought we would head to the festival before then," Mr Noble said.

''We're still on our honeymoon.''

The event was not open to anyone aged under 18.