Queenstown celebrates winter festival

News release

A huge crowd celebrated the official start of the Air New Zealand Queenstown Winter Festival today as the Southern Hemisphere's biggest winter celebration got underway.

The ten-day festival, now in its 26th year, officially opened with a range of family and fun events culminating in the Air New Zealand Queenstown Winter Festival Opening Fireworks.

A near record crowd of over 10,000 people poured into the centre of the resort for a two-hour opening party - the highlight of which was a stunning fireworks display over Queenstown Bay.

America's Cup yachting hero Dean Barker was guest of honour and admitted it was his first visit to Queenstown.

"It's a beautiful place, I'm not really sure why I haven't been before," he said.

Mayor Warren Cooper officially opened the event and welcomed the Vice Mayor of Sapporo City in Japan, Mr Norioki Daicho. Sapporo has held a famous mid-winter festival for over 50 years and Mr Daicho said he wished the Queenstown event all the best.

"I hope a snow festival exchange will allow us to prosper towards making both these festivals distinguished international events," he said.

Air New Zealand Domestic Airline Group General Manager Andrew Miller was delighted with the opening day.

"The float parade and fireworks have been a great start to the Air New Zealand Queenstown Winter Festival Week," he said. "It's wonderful to see so many people, both locals and visitors, joining in the celebrations."

Festival manager Vickie Hill said the fireworks display was the best yet and had capped off a perfect day and night.

"The number of people at all the events was far greater than we expected and everyone seemed to have a fantastic time," she said.

Earlier in the day hundreds of people watched Queenstown artists team up with festival guests and well-known locals to create a painted masterpiece. The inaugural Art a Deux attracted attention from public and media alike and participants agreed it was a fabulous addition to the festival programme. A blind auction of the artworks will raise money for future festival art.

Later in the afternoon, around 4000 people lined the streets of Queenstown to marvel at over 50 floats in the Air New Zealand Queenstown Winter Festival Float Parade. Floats from Queenstown businesses, festival sponsors and community groups took an hour to work their way around the streets.

Andrew Miller and Air New Zealand Sponsorship Manager Meredith Ellis found it a hard task to judge the entries.

"The winning floats were very imaginative and it was a tough decision," said Mr Miller.

The Queenstown Ice Skating Club won the award for best use of the Air New Zealand logo, a trans-Tasman flight for two with Air New Zealand to Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane.

The Southland Times newspaper won the best business float award and the best community float was the Wakatipu Wastebusters. The judges also made special mentions of the Snow Queen, Williams Cottage and Queenstown Fire Brigade entries.

In his fifth year, Destination Queenstown chief executive David Kennedy, as Jackie O'Kennedy, won the Q92FM Drag Race. There were nine hand-picked fillies in the race, in which prominent Queenstown businessmen don stilettos and dresses. Mr Kennedy has now vowed to "hang up his stilettos for good."

Dean Barker said he had made a 'covert' inspection of window dressings for the Air New Zealand American Express Window Dressing Competition, which was won by Bradley's Pharmacy.

For further information, contact:

Queenstown Winter Festival 2000

Old Council Buildings, Stanley Street, Queenstown

Tel: 03-441 2453 or 0800 4 QUEENSTOWN

Fax: 03-441 2459

E-mail: email@winterfestival.co.nz