Motueka Kai Fest to go bigger, better
Work is ramping up for the 2018 Motueka Kai Fest with the aim of making it bigger and better than the inaugural event in 2017.
On a perfect April day last year, about 4000 people attended the first event at Decks Reserve. It was widely considered to be an outstanding start to what is hoped will be a signature annual event for Motueka.
However, organisers identified several aspects where changes would make it better, including a wider variety of food stalls, a bet- ter layout of the venue and improvements to the parade and pageant.
Petra Stephenson has been contracted as event co-ordinator.
‘‘We learned a great deal from the first Kai Fest,’’ she said. ‘‘Many aspects worked wonderfully well but some needed adjustment or a new approach.’’
The parade would again involve schools from the area but would take a different route and the participants would arrive in the reserve from one direction.
‘‘There are so many other possibilities,’’ Stephenson said. ‘‘For instance, we need to ... get local food industries involved and including a cooking competition/ barbecue cook off would be superb.’’
Extensive planning had also gone into running a supervised alcohol tasting area, given the importance of wines, ciders and hop-based beverages to the Motueka economy.
The registration for Kai Fest stalls had also been simplified and could be done online via the motuekakaifest.nz website or Facebook page.
Stephenson said the big drive at the moment was to get community groups to help with parts of the event, such as decorating the stage, waste management, entertainment, games and security.
‘‘If we can get together a good team of enthusiastic people and share the load, we have the opportunity to make the Kai Fest a real signature event for the town and for the district into the future,’’ she said.
Training would be provided. A $20,000 grant from Tasman District Council’s Special Grants Fund would go ‘‘a long way’’ to making the event financially viable into the future.
A good proportion of that money would go into establishing ‘‘sound organisation practices and clear task definition’’ so they could be repeated for future years, Stephenson said.
The 2018 Motueka Kai Fest is due to be held on Sunday, April 8, from 10am to 3pm. Entry is free to the zero-waste event.