“it!” Festival!
The “it!” Bay of Islands Food & Wine Festival! Love it! Drink it! Sing it! Just don’t miss it!
Create
Working alongside a subcommittee from Business Paihia Inc - we created 'it!' Bay of Islands food and Wine Festival, back in 2009, the business association wanted to create an event that would bring visitors to Paihia and surrounds at Labour Weekend to bolster the numbers (at that time visitor nights were low at labour Weekend).
The concept was to build the event and a following for the event, and then move it from Labour weekend to a quieter weekend therefore creating another busy weekend that the region would really benefit from.
This event is also all about local! Local food and vineyards and as much as possible we use local contractors and suppliers - so that the investment goes back into the local businesses.
Event management
We manage this event from start to finish, and all the bits in between!
Selecting the bands and entertainment, stage management, sponsorship, funding, staffing, contractors, volunteers, showcasing food and vineyard stalls, liquor licensing, sponsorship with major brewery and businesses, event set up and pack down, ticketing, sales, PR and marketing.
Success!
"it!" Bay of Islands - has been a self-sustainable event from the start and even to the extent that the profits made from the festival each year are used for several of Business Paihia's free community events throughout the year.
The festival was moved from Labour weekend in 2016 year, to a shoulder season weekend - to encourage visitors to come to Paihia and the Bay of Islands.
Due to the challenges with Covid and crowd restrictions the "it!" Bay of Islands festival has not gone ahead in 2020/2021. We are excited to say 2022 is looking positive and will be back 1st October!