Winter Festival: A week of non-stop celebrations

Posted by on 30 June 2010

Queenstown’s biggest and best free street party turned on the magic last night (Tues June 29) as thousands turned out to celebrate the Air New Zealand holidays Mardi Gras and were treated to a line-up of stellar entertainers.

It was yet another success for the Southern Hemisphere’s biggest winter party -- the American Express Queenstown Winter Festival – which has delivered a week of fabulous fun for all, with sold-out events and huge crowds enjoying the winter action.

With a big focus on community events this year, there have been plenty of free festival festivities downtown including the American Express Opening Party and Fireworks, the colourful Oaks Hotels & Resorts Festival Parade and Family Fun Day, and all the craziness that is the MoreFM Day on the Bay.

Highlights of the Mardi Gras included I Am Giant and headline act Dragon, and the fun continued well into the night with two stages, great food stalls and lots of mulled wine. A feature of the event was the second stage where bands from Wakatipu High School impressed the crowd which was also entertained with a special appearance by Jason Kerrison of OpShop fame.

Festival manager Simon Green said the only disappointment with the Mardi Gras was that a street parade which has featured in recent years was not on the calendar for 2010.

“We all love the Mardi Gras parade and it was part of our planning for this year, but at a very late stage we were unexpectedly denied funding to cover the time and expenses associated with it. We share the disappointment of those who were expecting it and will again strive to secure the funding needed for next year.”

Highlights of down-town events to date include the glamorous Lindauer Masquerade Ball where revelers danced into the small hours, followed by the action-packed Thriller in the Chiller with special guest boxing legend Sugar Ray Leonard. Comedy featured at the Canadian Club Comedy Gala at Memorial Hall, Late Night Laughs at the American Express Ice Box and the Lindauer Ladies Fashion Afternoon, highlighting the transformation of 12 lovely local ladies into catwalk models for the day.

All the madness continues up at Coronet Peak this weekend with the ever-popular grabaseat Mountain Mayhem Day, Budget Mountain Bikes on Snow and the Closing Party (featuring dDub) on Sunday July 4.