Festival to move to bigger stadium as numbers soar
INVERCARGILL brewers are hoping to raise the bar for their craft beer festival, and a venue change is set for next year.
Hop ’n’ Vine craft beer, wine, and food festival, booked for April 2019, has been moved to Stadium Southland in a bid to ‘‘at least triple’’ the number of stallholders and cater to a much larger crowd, organiser Kevin Downie said.
The event, which had been at the Velodrome since its inception in 2017, had doubled in size over the first two years, and a similar trend is expected for the next event, Mr Downie said.
‘‘We had 600 the first year, 1200 the second year, and we’re hoping next year to get 2000 to 2500 people.’’
The bigger venue meant bigger and better ideas for the event, he said.
‘‘People want more of a variation of food, wines. We’re going to have gin bars, we’re going to have some whiskies, we’re going to have all sorts of things there.’’
Each brand showcasing their craft beer at the festival would have their own bar area to create a unique environment, he said.
‘‘When you walk from place to place it will be like going from pub to pub.’’
Securing a band which was ‘‘at least New Zealandknown’’ would help to take the event to ‘‘the next level’’, he said.
Stadium Southland general manager Nigel Skelt said the festival was ‘‘refined and upmarket’’ and had become a ‘‘destination event’’ for Southland.
‘‘It’s one of the success stories. Having a dream, creating an event and growing the event.
‘‘We’re thrilled for them,’’ he said.