The festival sold out of 4500 tickets in its first year. Photo / Caroline Fleming
The festival sold out of 4500 tickets in its first year. Photo / Caroline Fleming
Tauranga's successful First We Eat festival was another brick in the foundation of the city becoming the country's "event capital", the event organiser says.
The food and wine festival sold out of all 4500 tickets in its first-ever event today at Tauranga and Wharepai Domain.
Sunhats and sunglasses were the must-wear of the day with no lady spotted without a summer dress or men without a button-up party shirt.
Organiser Mitch Lowe said their point of difference from other food and wine festivals was their focus on good-quality and high production level music on the day.
New Zealand great Sir Dave Dobbyn was the headline act many were heading along to see, following other top artists like Soaked Oats and The Feelers.
Lowe said the day was turning out to be "unbelievable" with the sun shining and everyone having a good time.
Organiser Mitch Lowe with his niece Madison, 4. Photo / Caroline Fleming
Lowe was part of Neptune Entertainment and 116 Group that put on other big events in Tauranga including One Love and Bay Dreams, arguably some of the country's "biggest and most popular events", he said.
All of the events were part of Lowe's grand plan to make Tauranga, the place he calls home, the "event capital" of New Zealand.
He said having a range of different types of events would "create the landscape" needed for this.
Year on year, he, Pato Alvarez and others in his team were working on creating more and more events to come to the city before taking them further around the country.
When asked why he opted for a Food and Wine festival, rather than the big party-time festival they had bought on in the past - he said "we are all getting a bit older".
"We are getting over the days of the nightclub scene and enjoy daytime events just like this."
He said First We Eat was one that already showed the success it could bring.
The festival sold out of 4500 tickets in its first year. Photo / Caroline Fleming
Covid-19 was something that put the brakes on for many in the events industry but Lowe said it gave them all the more time to brainstorm and come up with the great new things we are seeing now.
He said being able to put on an event like this made him "10 times more grateful" about where we are at as the world watches on.
Bay of Plenty artist Alayna was the first to take the stage on the day and told the Bay of Plenty Times that the event was "so cool" and made her proud to be from the region.
She said the crowd had been "awesome" and the fact that the festival was run by "such good people" made all the difference.
The festival boasted a wide range of different cuisines including local seafood and homegrown, American-style and even plant-powered food trucks all filling different areas of the festival.
She said: "There is a lot more going on in Tauranga than there was in Christchurch".
"It's been a really nice afternoon."
Jacqui Hayes and Deanne Burnett soak up the sun with a drink in hand. Photo / Caroline Fleming
The event was also family-friendly, with many young tots and children seen enjoying ice cream and treats in the sunshine.
Darniel and James Natzka had made plans to come child-free but a last-minute babysitter pull out meant the pair had to bring their 5 and 17-month-old boys along.
Darniel said it was a "lovely day" and one that was easy to bring the kids along too.
The pair were considering inviting their other friends with kids to all come along next year and make a family day out of it, James said.
