'Pretty fortunate': Outfield festival's sigh of relief as plans for future expand

The sold out Outfield festival drew a crowd of about 3000 people from Hawke's Bay and around the country. Photo / Lachlan Morris

Hawke's Bay's quirky Outfield festival has doubled numbers in its second year and is set to grow, organisers say.

The festival was created by four experienced event organisers, three of whom are from Hawke's Bay, who wanted to combine music, arts and food in one Hawke's Bay festival, giving all equal importance.

This is what festival director Jesse Hunter reckons makes Outfield special.

"People that come to experience Outfield are coming to experience Outfield not necessarily because of the music we have, or the food trucks we get, or the art that we have but a combination of all of them."

And it's starting to cement itself as a known Hawke's Bay event, with people travelling from around Aotearoa to attend.

About 3000 people attended the second annual festival at Te Awanga Downs on Saturday February 13, which sold out the morning before it opened.

Hunter said Outfield will "hopefully become an iconic festival in Hawke's Bay".

The support of the local community has given them the confidence to continue to grow it, with plans to build on this year's event next year.

"It's an event where we try bring the community in and so it's not sort of people coming into their town, we involve the community with the whole event."

Given the move to Covid-19 alert level two on Sunday night which would have meant Outfield couldn't have been held at the level, Hunter said "we consider ourselves pretty fortunate".

"But we also feel for other festivals and things that are on this weekend because we know the work and effort that goes into putting these events on for people and it's really hard when you've got things that are out of your control."

The food trucks in particular is something they got "really, really positive" feedback on, and local cuisine is something they want to continue to build on.

Art from Hawke's Bay and around the country was also a highlight with an arts team bringing it all together.

Pre-registrations for the 2022 event will go live on Tuesday morning.