Grayson Brown, 4, of Waipukurau pictured at the opening weekend of Taniwha Daffodils.
The weather may not have been overly kind for the start of this year's CHB Spring Fling, but sales for ticketed events were already running hot before the festival began.
When the 2017 Spring Fling launched on September 1 with the opening day of Taniwha Daffodils, CHB Tourism coordinator Trudy Hales said ticket sales were already more than 20 per cent ahead of last year's total, with three events selling out before the official start of spring.
More than 5500 people attended an event during last year's Spring Fling and Ms Hales said billboards had been put up in Paekakariki and Masterton among other efforts to attract visitors from neighbouring regions, with strong ticket uptake from Wellington and other areas.
One of the most popular events, Dusk in the Daffodils this Friday night, had reached capacity before the end of August. When Taniwha Homestead owners Esther and Angus Mabin released another 50 tickets on September 1, they were snapped up in 15 minutes, Ms Hales said.
Gwavas Garden and Puahanui Bush Tours sold out two of their four events, and were close to capacity also for their two September offerings, she said.
Meanwhile more than 100 tickets have also been sold for the Steam into Spring Excursion Train Journey, which will see visitors travelling up from Paekakariki on a steam locomotive, before they swap onto a diesel locomotive at Woodville for the remainder of the journey to Waipukurau.
Esther Mabin said the opening weekend of Taniwha Daffodils had been "quietly steady" due to the less than ideal weather. Visitor numbers gradually increased with brighter and warmer days at the start of last week, before they really took off last Thursday with the start of the CHB Festival at nearby Pukeora Estate.
"It's just been crazy busy. It's how it's meant to be enjoyed," said Esther on Thursday about the people with picnics around the lake, the long line up at the daffodil wrapping station, and the fleet of buses, campervans and cars parked on the grounds of the homestead on SH2 just south of Waipukurau.
Up at Pukeora Estate, more than 520 people attended the first day of The CHB Festival, according to organising committee secretary Caroline Innes. Based on previous years, she "guess-timated" that 4000 people would attend the art, crafts, food and wine extravaganza over the four days, with the biggest crowd on Saturday.
One of those impressed by his first experience of the festival was Neil Pharazyn from Wellington, who was staying overnight with friends in CHB.
As he sipped on a glass of Pukeora Estate wine poured by owner Kate Annabell, Mr Pharazyn said he did not know what to expect when he heard about the festival. He envisioned the festival would mainly be set outside, but was surprised to find stallholders
around every corner of Pukeora's main building. "It's quite different ... amazing actually."
Many festival goers made a beeline for Rik Van Damme's handmade chocolates and Belgian truffles.
Originally from Bruges but now based in Upper Hutt, where he operates out of a commercial kitchen, the chocolatier said he travelled around the country selling his 'melt-in-your-mouth' sweets, but always enjoyed coming to CHB.
"I have been coming here for 11 years. I must be the longest stall holder. People here love my chocolates," he beamed.
The helloworld Wearable Creations at CHB Municipal Theatre (page 4) was another early event during this year's Spring Fling, which consists of 30 events showcasing the very best of CHB, and continues this weekend with the Hatuma Lime Half Marathon (see page 5). Tickets and full event info at www.thespringfling.nz