Marton Harvest Tastetival: The council festival rebrand that flopped

Rangitīkei District Council's proposed named change for the popular Marton Harvest Festival was rejected by the community.

Rangitīkei District Council has ditched its controversial name change of the Marton Harvest Festival following community backlash.

In a statement, the council said the name change “caused angst” and “strong feelings” in the community.

A council spokeswoman said the rebrand to Marton Harvest Tastetival was to “freshen it up” as it was related to food and beverage products made locally and intended to differentiate the event further from the Marton Market Day.

“Marton Harvest Taste Festival was looking a bit wordy, which is how Tastetival came about. There are ‘Tastetivals’ and ‘Tastivals’ held all over the world, so [it’s] not a new concept.”

But the Tastetival didn’t last long.

Significant community feedback caused the council to axe the intended name change.

“We do acknowledge and apologise to our community that the conversations and time around changing the Marton Harvest Festival [were] not handled better. We have learned from this process and will do better moving forward.”

Online commentary was divided on the issue - one Facebook user commented: “Tastetival is just weird, don’t change things that aren’t broken.”

But others couldn’t understand the controversy over the rebrand. One user commented: “What a thing to get upset about.”

The cost for digital branding for the festival was approximately $500, but no printing or signs had been created yet.

However, ratepayers won’t be footing this bill as the festival is funded via grants.

The Marton Harvest Festival is going ahead on April 7 2024.

Eva de Jong is a reporter for the Whanganui Chronicle covering health stories and general news. She began as a reporter in 2023.