Wintery weather for winter festival
A second postponement wasn’t an option for the Marfell Winter Festival despite a last-minute change of location, heavy rain and the absence of planned stalls.
The event was postponed last Saturday due to wet weather, and with even wetter weather this weekend festival convenor, Ruth Pfister said they didn’t want to put it off another week.
Pfister said around noon on Friday, just 24 hours before the event, they were given the news that they had to find a new location.
‘‘We had this announcement from Housing New Zealand to say we couldn’t use the land,’’ she said.
‘‘They didn’t want us on that land because they were about to sell it, and they didn’t want the land damaged.’’
The event was meant to be held on the corner of Banks Street and Discovery Place, but luckily, Marfell Community School welcomed the festival ‘‘with open arms’’.
‘‘We were determined to do it because we’d put it off last week and you can’t really keep the momentum going for another week,’’ she said.
‘‘So we thought this is do or bust really.’’
This seemed to be the right decision because although there were muddy feet, everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves when the sun came out.
However, due to the weather, a few of the people who had committed to coming pulled out.
‘‘We’ve lost a couple of the gigs,’’ Pfister said.
‘‘It is what it is and we’ve still got quite a good uptake.’’
The event was planned to ‘‘celebrate whanau, family, fun and food’’,
‘‘That’s all it really was, it’s about having a nice time together,’’ Pfister said.
She said in the past it had taken a lot of time and effort to get things organised in the community, so she decided to ‘‘just do it’’.
‘‘I just think it shows what people can do, in spite of obstacles,’’ she said.