Taste Whanganui brings crowd to city's CBD

Nina Barbezat and Katie Longie sampling some beverages at Taste Whanganui on Saturday. Photo / Lewis Gardner

Taste Whanganui organiser Gioia Damosso said that despite an early technical glitch which caused the loss of power and Wi-Fi, the rest of the event was "smooth sailing", with around 500 people coming through the gates.

The inaugural food and beverage festival kicked off at 12 noon on Saturday at the War Memorial Centre forecourt with music played throughout the day, and ticket holders were able to sample a wide array of New Zealand produced drinks and meals.

"We've had enough people to create a good atmosphere, but not too many to be jammed in there," Damosso said.

"There are a few learnings to take away, but people have been saying how great this is for Whanganui and that we've done a good job, and I hope we have."

Taste Whanganui attracted around 500 people. Photo / Lewis Gardner

Damosso said the participating distilleries had been "nailing it", and the feedback they'd received was that there needed to be "a couple more food stalls".

"We had a few pull out last week, so next year we'll be aiming to get more on board really early and get them locked in. There'll definitely be more food next time.

Whanganui organisers Koert Wegman and Gioia Damosso on Saturday afternoon. Photo / Lewis Gardner

"Our whole idea was to put something on in Whanganui over Labour weekend, so everybody didn't go away. We've got 500 people in there, and we've managed to attract people from Wellington, Hawke's Bay, Manawatu, New Plymouth, Otago, and even one from Australia I think.

"People have come into town for the weekend too, so that's really good.

Kiwi covers band 60 Beat entertain festival-goers. Photo / Lewis Gardner

"We'll be packing everything out tonight and tomorrow, and then we'll be focusing straight on Sound Valley.

"It'll be nice to just focus on one event, but this [Taste Whanganui] was a really good test run for us. This was our first event since forming our company [Lost Art Events] and everything has gone really well."