Two Whakatāne-based events – The Local Wild Food Festival and Trust Horizon Light Up Whakatāne – have been nominated as finalists for the 2024 New Zealand Events Association Awards.
The awards celebrate innovation, creativity and resilience of events held throughout New Zealand. The Local Wild Food Festival, organised by Whakatāne District Council’s Tourism and Events team, is a finalist in two award categories – Best Local Government Event and Best Food, Beverage and Lifestyle Event. Trust Horizon Light Up Whakatāne has made the final cut for Best Community or Not-for-profit Event (over 3000 participants). Trust Horizon Light Up Whakatāne is organised by Whakatāne District Council, Arts Whakatāne and EPIC Whakatāne Town Centre group.
Whakatāne District Council Tourism and Events Manager Nicola Burgess attributes community input to the success of both events.
“We’re absolutely thrilled to be recognised amongst New Zealand’s best events, as finalists in the national awards. Many, many people have contributed to these events over several years - events created by the community, for the community.
“The Local Wild Food Festival is supported by budding amateur chefs, judges, cooking demonstrations, hapū, school groups, environmental organisations and more - many of whom give their time for free.
Likewise, Trust Horizon Light Up Whakatāne is about bringing the community together with a huge amount of community input from sponsors, funders, artists, performance groups, hapū, schools, businesses and community organisations. Council is proud to provide leadership, coordination and sponsorship of these two key events which reflect our people and place, and we hope they are successful for many years to come,” she says.
Trust Horizon Chairperson David Glover says the light festival, “has transformed the mid-winter experience for the Whakatāne Community and the Trust is proud to be involved with an event that has community at its heart.”
While both events are designed with community input, for the community, Ms Burgess says attracting visitors has been an important objective for each event.
“For our key events, it’s important to attract locals and visitors. The visitor dollar is vitally important to our local businesses, particularly through the shoulder seasons. If we can leverage events by encouraging visitors to attend and stay for a night or weekend, it’s a win-win for community vibrancy and our economy,” she says.
Neighbouring regions have also fared well in the awards shortlist. The Ōpōtiki Matariki Festival is a finalist in two categories – Best Arts, Cultural or Heritage Event and Best Community Not-for-profit Event (under 3000 participants). Flavours of Plenty, organised by Tourism Bay of Plenty, is in the running again after coming away with two category wins at the 2023 awards.
Winners will be announced on 27 August, at the 2024 Awards Gala Dinner in Palmerston North.