Queenstown Winter Festival Delivers & Director Takes a Bow

A new look Queenstown Winter Festival delivers on expectations, Festival Director takes a bow, and planning for 2018 Festival begins.

After a successful 2017 event, organisers of the 43rd Queenstown Winter Festival have confirmed that the shortened format for 2017 was the right decision for the Festival’s long-term future.

“We are very pleased with how the new-look Queenstown Winter Festival has run, all the events went very well and it’s been great to see the local community getting behind the revamped programme too,” said Destination Queenstown Chief Executive, Graham Budd.

Mr Budd confirmed that the 44th Queenstown Winter Festival, which is owned by Destination Queenstown, will continue to be central to Destination Queenstown’s marketing of the resort’s winter to domestic and international visitors.

“Queenstown Winter Festival has proven again to be an important event for our region and Destination Queenstown is fully committed to the success of Queenstown Winter Festival. We are delighted to announce that the 2018 Queenstown Winter Festival will be centred on the weekend of 23-24 June 2018,” said Mr Budd.

“Before then we’ll be doing a thorough review of the Festival and looking at ways we can fine tune the event that overall has been a great success.”

Lisa Buckingham, Festival Director for five Queenstown Winter Festivals believes that the energy generated on the streets of Queenstown by the action-packed four-day Festival vindicated organisers’ sense at the end of 2016 that the time had come to reformat the Festival.

“The energy on the streets of Queenstown noticeably lifted the day Festival started and continued right through until Sunday night without flagging thanks to the jam-packed programme and the buzz of visitors and businesses embracing the opportunity to be a part of the positive vibe,” said Ms Buckingham.

For four days more than 60 events entertained locals and visitors. Ms Buckingham noted that some of the new events and new event formats for 2017 were highlights of the Festival in its 43rd year.

As for Ms Buckingham’s expectations for 2018, she will enjoy it as a reveller as she has announced that the 43rdQueenstown Winter Festival will be her last as Festival Director.

“The need for a shortened Festival was in my sights from early on in my tenure. When I got the go ahead for 2017 to be a four day format I knew that I had to stay on to see it through. Now that it has been the success that we knew it would be, it’s the perfect time for me to pass on the responsibility of continuing to evolve the Festival to someone else,” said Ms Buckingham.

READ MORE https://www.winterfestival.co.nz/stories/new-look-queenstown-winter-festival-delivers-on-expectations-festival-director-takes-a-bow-and-planning-for-2018-festival-begins/

The link to the 2017 Queenstown Winter Festival survey is; https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/QTWinterFestival

2017 event media releases are here:

Day 1. https://www.winterfestival.co.nz/stories/fresh-snow-and-a-special-cultural-welcome-on-the-first-day/

Day 2. https://www.winterfestival.co.nz/stories/artful-dodgers-influencers-and-fireworks-at-the-queenstown-winter-festival-2017/

Day 3. https://www.winterfestival.co.nz/stories/shenanigans-from-lakefront-to-mountain-top-rule-day-3/

Day 4. https://www.winterfestival.co.nz/stories/carnival-atmosphere-on-the-last-day/

Downloadable hi res images for media are available here;
Day 1. https://www.winterfestival.co.nz/media/media-images-2017/day-1-thursday-22-june-2017/

Day 2. https://www.winterfestival.co.nz/media/media-images-2017/day-2-friday-23-june-2017/

Day 3. https://www.winterfestival.co.nz/media/media-images-2017/day-1-saturday-24-june-2017/

Day 4. https://www.winterfestival.co.nz/media/media-images-2017/day-4-sunday-25-june-2017/

Public galleries with more downloadable hi res images for each event are here; https://www.winterfestival.co.nz/galleries/2017-photo-gallery/

Please check the metadata for detailed captions, photographer credits and waiver confirmation. Emailmedia@winterfestival.co.nz if any further information is required.

Raw video footage courtesy of Olympus is available for the 2017 Monteith’s Dog Derby and Macpac Mountain Bikes on Snow. Email media@winterfestival.co.nz to request a Dropbox folder share.

ENDS

© Scoop Media