Wanaka A&P Show line-up announced

Jody Direen

The Wanaka A&P Show is gearing up for another successful year, with its entertainment line-up now announced.

Wanaka-based country-pop singer Jody Direen, captivating Kiwi magician Jonathan Usher and New Zealand's favourite covers group The BeatGirls will headline the acts performing on the main stage at the two-day event on March 8 and 9.

Award-winning local folk singer Anna van Riel will also be performing tunes from her new interactive children's album Fishing for Stars, while Wanaka's own celebrity chef Angelo Georgalli will be sharing his tips and tricks for cooking salmon, rabbit and venison.

Coming to the Wanaka Show for the first time is a team of Clydesdale horses from Erewhon Station in Canterbury. In the area for the Goldfields Cavalcade in early March, the Clydesdales will attend the show on both days.

Wanaka show co-ordinator Jane Stalker said entertainment was an integral part of the annual show, which attracted 40,000 people from around the country.

"Jody Direen, Anna van Riel and Angelo Georgalli all hail from Wanaka, so it's also exciting to be able to showcase some of our own homegrown talent.''

Traditional staples of the entertainment programme - such as wood chopping and sheep shearing challenges, old-fashioned sheaf tossing and the world-famous Jack Russell race - also return this year, as well as 500 trade stalls, a vintage car display and the livestock and equestrian competitions.