Olive experts share pressing secrets...

The Olive Festival will be on this weekend.

This weekend's Olive Festival is sure to get tastebuds tingling.

With olives plump and ripe for picking at the Agrodome grove, the first Olive Festival there will give locals the opportunity to feast on a three-course olive-themed meal and learn more about the tasty fruit.

The festival, which celebrates the grove's inaugural 2014 harvest, will be on Saturday at the Education Centre at the Agrodome's olive and kiwifruit orchard.

While the grove has been around for about a decade, market sales manager Diane Curtis said this was the first time an event like this had been held there.

"It's a new experience for us and for the public, so it's very exciting."

Visitors will be able to experience the inner workings of an olive grove first hand and be able to press their own olive oil, with an artisan olive oil maker from The Village Press demonstrating how to achieve the best results.

Ms Curtis said the food was sure to be exquisite, with anything from poached salmon to grilled feijoas on the menu.

She said the Agrodome, which was one of New Zealand's iconic tourist attractions, was famed for its sheep shows, farm tours and kiwifruit, feijoa and olive orchards.

This was the chance to share the latter with the public in a unique way, she said.

Ms Curtis hopes the Olive Festival will prove popular and become an annual event.

It will run from 10am to 2pm. Tickets are still available until this afternoon and are $79 each, meal included. You can book online at www.agrodome.co.nz