Issue #908

by Paul Taylor, QMG

A huge roar went up from the crowd downtown at the end of the DFS Winter Fireworks display above Queenstown Bay on Friday evening. It was so loud, somewhat incredibly, you could hear it all the way up on Queenstown Hill, where dozens of people had gathered to get a decent view without the need to tackle CBD traffic and parking. There must have been hundreds, if not thousands, watching downtown.

Of course, in years gone by, the display would have been part of Winter Fest, but the festival has been canned by Destination Queenstown, the regional tourism marketing organisation, due to the difficulties in attracting sponsorship. There is no word when, or if, it will return.

The festival began back in 1975 and became increasingly complex and expensive over the years. Even in 2018, the days of max tourism, DQ spent around $100k from its reserves towards the $777k costs for the 10-day bash, so, post-Covid, with inflation and tightening corporate advertising budgets, you can see why they’ve pulled the plug. Big events need big sponsors, especially naming sponsors. Winter Fest attracted the likes of American Express and Air New Zealand in the past.

Perhaps there’s another way to go forward, though. Perhaps we don’t have to go quite so big and splashy. Last week, long-time locals began calling for the return of Winter Fest of old. It’s always had a businessy-promotional element to it, like Queenstown itself, but there was a good deal more community, and definitely a lot more silliness in years gone by. Yes, the world has probably moved on from some events, such as the drag race - which saw high-profile businessmen racing through Earnslaw Park in drag, a little drunk, and with wonderfully, erm, evocative names like Carman Yankabollockoff. But we could still do the grand parade, the Undy500, the dodgeball, Old Farts Ball, the suitcase race and other mountain events, not to mention reviving some very old favourites, such as the spaghetti-eating championships, for a laugh.

There was always a great buzz about the town for Winter Fest. All we’d need is for local businesses to take it upon themselves to adopt an event, as DFS has done with the fireworks. They could be matched with a community organisation, supporting each other and fundraising. Then, put them all on in the same week. It could primarily be for locals, a way for businesses to extend tourism’s social licence (we could even hit up Queenstown Airport to be the naming sponsor!). The spirit of the town would shine through, attracting more tourists. We don’t need KPIs and metrics on media reach, as DQ had in 2018.

Afterall, DFS has earned some great name recognition and goodwill from Queenstowners for reaching into its pocket.