Estate still on Mission to entertain

The traditional Mission "charge" for seats may again be on the cards next summer.

The Mission Concert is not off the entertainment events list for Hawke's Bay, with organisers working to secure an act for this summer.

"We are definitely working at bringing an act here for 2016," Mission Estate Winery chief executive officer Peter Holley said.

"There is a desire, there is a will and at the end of the day there is a market - we are working on it," he said, adding that the whole events industry had become hugely competitive and there were hurdles to get over.

Mr Holley said times had changed - many acts were now geared to indoor venues and while the Mission was a unique setting, it had limitations in some areas.

But his passion for seeing the annual concert being staged was undimmed.

"We want to put this on - no question at all about that."

Mr Holley said Sport and Entertainment Ltd's (SEL) operations manager Garry Craft, whose role it was to pursue entertainers and acts for the concert, was in London but he would not elaborate.

He said the bottom line was the Mission wanted to roll out the best entertainment it could and make it affordable.

The concert failed to appear this year after a suitable act was unable to be found.

It was the first time since the first annual event with Kiri Te Kanawa in 1993 that it had not been staged, although the 2009 concert featuring Lionel Richie had to be cancelled after heavy rain made the Mission's grassed amphitheatre too dangerous.

Crowd numbers had been in decline over the past four years, however, with even musical heavyweights Barry Gibb and Carole King unable to attract a capacity crowd in 2013.

The last concert, the 2014 Irish and British Invasion featuring Ronan Keating, drew only half the 25,000 capacity of the venue.

SEL operations manager Garry Craft said the competition had stepped up across the events calender and it was difficult to find acts which suited the Mission and which were assured of drawing big numbers.

"This is not for the lack of trying," Mr Holley said.

"We are working on this."