Cold weather forecast for oyster festival
People heading to the Bluff Oyster Festival this weekend will have to wrap up warm, with the temperature expected to reach a high of only 10 degrees Celsius.
The oyster festival venue in Bluff has been a hive of activity all week as the organisers prepare for the 5000-strong crowd to arrive today.
Tickets to the festival sold out in February and punters were already arriving in the town ahead of the festival.
The forecast for today is for a few showers, becoming more frequent in the afternoon, with southwesterly winds up to 31kmh.
Organisers said the festival site has been adapted this year to comfortably accommodate about 5000 people with plenty of cover should the weather be inclement.
In addition to the traditional and popular oyster eating races, competitors from the thousands expected will be invited on stage to down a plate of Bluff oysters dipped Southland has featured favourably in a national arts profile, but art advocates say more public funding for events would boost the arts scene in the south.
A national report shows 79 per cent of Southlanders surveyed attended or participated in an art event in a one year period.
Southland art organisers Angela Newell and Lisa Tou-McNaughton are pleased with the finding but not surprised. The national percentage is 80.
‘‘It’s really great to see we are tracking with national trends of engagement,’’ Newell said.
‘‘It shows there are opportunities for people.’’ Tou-McNaughton agreed.
‘‘It’s really positive . . . arts are an essential part of our community,’’ she said.