Gioia Damosso and Koert Wegman, organisers of Taste Whanganui. Photo / File
Gioia Damosso and Koert Wegman, organisers of Taste Whanganui. Photo / File
Food and beverage festival Taste Whanganui was originally scheduled to take place over two days of Labour Weekend, but will now run only this Saturday.
Organiser Gioia Damosso said a number of vendors pulled out of the event after the country re-entered Covid-19 alert levels 2 and 3 in August.
"When we hit level 2 again a lot of our stallholders from both days said that it wasn't a good time for them to commit to events," Damosso said.
"Some of them were from Auckland, and some were flying from down south so they didn't want to lose out, which is completely understandable.
"Instead of having two events that were looking a bit bare we decided to combine them into one, and now the event is looking really good."
The event will now run from midday to 7pm on Saturday, October 24.
Damosso, whose event management company Lost Arts is also organising the Sound Valley music festival next February, said all the bands scheduled to play over the weekend had now been "jammed into" Saturday.
"We've got the distilleries there, we've got the breweries there, and we've got some food trucks there. It's looking like it'll be a mint day, and weather is looking good as well.
"For a first time event I think that maybe it's a blessing in disguise because we can just focus on the one day and look at building it back up from there.
"It has been a rough year to try and put on a first-time event, but we just decided to push on through and I feel like if we can make it this year then every year after this is going to be bloody easy.
Renowned covers band The Noodles, featuring Whanganui's Frazer Jones, will be hitting the stage at Taste Whanganui. Photo / Supplied
"We've had a good number of ticket sales so far, and we know that Whanganuians are notorious for buying tickets last minute so I'd imagine we'll be selling a lot more leading up to the event and on the day as well."
Local covers bands The Noodles, The Replicants, Those Guys and Reset would be playing on Saturday, Damosso said.
"We've also got Niko Ne Zna, who are a nine piece Balkan brass band from Wellington, and 60 Beat from Taupo who do '60s and '70s covers like The Beatles, Stones, and CCR [Creedence Clearwater Revival].
"The entertainment on the day is going to be awesome."
Despite a number of vineyards pulling out of the event, Damosso said there would still be two wine tents at the festival, along with seven distillery tents and two breweries.
"All the VIP and early bird tickets are gone, but general tickets are still available.
"Considering how events have been this year it's pretty good that we've managed to sell as many tickets as we have, and at the moment we're sitting at around 400.
"We need to give Whanganui & Partners a big thank you for their funding as well."
Taste Whanganui, which is an R18 event, is giving away two individual tickets for the festival at the War Memorial Centre forecourt this Saturday.
To be in the draw to win, all you have to do is name one of the distilleries taking part. Email michael.tweed@nzme.co.nz with your answer, name, contact details and confirmation that you are 18 years of age or older.
Entries are open until 4pm on Thursday, October 22. The winners will be advised on Friday morning.
For more information on Taste Whanganui, visit www.tastewhanganui.nz
