Festival-goers pack into Rhythm and Vines site

Gareth Jew, Hayden McLeod, Rosalea Bruce, Francois le Roux and Pete Zahutt arrive at the Gisborne Festival from Auckland. Photo / Gisborne Herald

Festival-goers are packing into the Rhythm and Vines site, getting ready for the rural New Year festival.

About 4500 people arrived at the rural vineyard on the outskirts of Gisborne last night and another 3000 are expected today.

Festival organiser Hamish Pinkham said everything was set for a bumper 13th episode.
"I'm pretty excited," he said.

"We expect a lot of walk-ins from the Gisborne region too. The weather is set to hold and the festival is a fantastic thing to help support the region."

From its origins as a small party, growing to reach 25,000 people a couple of years ago, the festival has come a long way in its 13 years, says Mr Pinkham.

With no BW campsite at the beach this season, more festival-goers are based at the festival site.

"These days, with everyone on-site, we have provided more entertainment, more food and more happening all the time

To keep people entertained, organisers have arranged an earlier start time, a range of attractions such as live comedy, acts that range from hip hop, dance music to folk rock, and a wide variety of food and craft beer.

The earlier 2pm start means R&V has returned to its roots, said Mr Pinkham. Earlier starts are in line with festival operations in Europe.

Aucklanders Cameron Knudsen, Evan Plester, Andy Rutherford, Isaac Kerr, Jared Tomblinson, Josh Lankford, Don Gray and Lincoln Lam have set up camp at Rhythm and Vines. Photo / Gisborne Herald

Phasing out of BYO culture is also aligned with festival developments around the world.

Festival-goers in search of refreshment can visit the beer gardens or cider shack where European-style picnic tables have been installed. These initiatives are part of a move to encourage people to get away from the old culture of drinking around their tents and engaging more with the festival.

"It is about the evolution of the festival," said Mr Pinkham.

"Once the entertainment starts, we hope people will just get out there and enjoy it."

- Gisborne Herald