More Spacious Site Awaits 2025 Bluff Oyster & Food Festival

When four thousand people converge on Bluff for the 2025 Bluff Oyster & Food Festival on Saturday 24 May, they will not only enjoy Bluff Oysters, other succulent southern seafood and fine beverages but they will also enjoy the extra space that the long-awaited demolition of the Club Hotel has afforded the festival site.

The hotel, which was deemed a dangerous building, was the reason the 2023 Festival was cancelled, organisers determining that it was inappropriate and impractical to invite 4000 visitors to celebrate in the shadow of the Club Hotel given the Dangerous Building Notice.

The hotel was demolished in early 2024 but the space that created was not able to be utilised for last year’s event so this year, with site works around the demolition site completed, festival goers will be able to enjoy a more spacious venue as they enjoy the festivities.

Those festivities kick off at 10.30am when the gates open with plenty of food options headlined of course by the Bluff Oyster – both cooked and raw - while there are plenty of beverage choices to accompany the food. At 11am the Oyster will be piped into the venue by the Invercargill Pipe Band and onto the main stage where the official opening of the festival and the Ode To The Oyster take place. From that point on the main stage will reverberate with entertainment all day long starting with the Bluff School Kapa Haka group and a full roster of bands including SIT SoundNZ, Hoodaki, Brenny & The Bushwhackers, Lachie Hayes and The Eastern with interludes from the Mapu-Kuki-Airani Rarotongan drummers and the traditional Polynesian Dance Off .

Elsewhere the iconic oyster events will commence early in the afternoon with Oyster Opening races for professional openers with races for Men, Ladies, Novices, Relay Teams plus a Blindfold Race. After the openers have demonstrated their skills volunteers from the crowd are invited on stage to participate in the Oyster Eating races to find the fastest competitor to down a plate of a dozen of Bluff’s finest. It is always a truly international event with competitors coming from far and wide, last year’s winner hailing from Auckland.

A bus service will run between Invercargill and BIuff on the day with full details on the festival website – www.bluffoysterfest.co.nz

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