You've got to imagine Sam Coulthard’s CV’s sparked a few fascinating conversations over the years.
The Winter Pride director’s been easy to spot this week with his rainbow-coloured hair and dental bling, as he hosts about 5000 members of the Rainbow community in Queenstown.
It’s a far cry from what he thought he’d be doing.
From Christchurch, Sam, 37, attended Burnside High School where he got into the tech crew for theatre productions.
His tech-bent’s inspired by his granddad, Noel Lee, a TVNZ cameraman in Invercargill who was one of the first to incorporate sound into his videos.
After high school, he completed a diploma in electro-technology at polytech in Christchurch — think designing and building circuit boards, with potential careers in powerhouses.
But once the self-confessed homebody graduated, he discovered he’d need to leave Christchurch to get a job in that industry, and he wasn’t up for it.
Instead he worked as a server and network engineer at Christchurch hospital, then in laptop repairs, computer-building, server and networking for small businesses.
Then came the Canterbury earthquakes, after which there was a short stint in Auckland — "hated it" — and a return to Canterbury, working as a Frucore contractor.
But "home" wasn’t the same.
"It was the time that it took for the city to recover . . .we couldn’t go to clubs because [the February, 2011 earthquake] bowled them all down.
"There was no real social life.
"I’m a car enthusiast and, of course, all the roads were ruined."
Then the opportunity arose to take over Queenstown’s Frucore run — he moved here in November, 2016, with his then-partner.
They heeded advice from a local to volunteer or join clubs, to meet friends.
The following year, he volunteered for the-then Gay Ski Week, working on the bar and doing some event management — the year after, Martin King and Mike Hughes purchased the event, rebranding it as Winter Pride, enlisting Sam to help with the tech side of things and using another of his not-so-hidden talents to spin some sounds, too.
"I used to drive the party buses in Christchurch as a side gig . . .when I was, like, 24.
"That’s sort of what got me into making playlists . . .and coming home and doing house parties, birthday parties and club nights.
"After the earthquake, that was the sort of thing we did, because we didn’t really have clubs."
Moving here he thought he’d leave that skillset behind, but Lewis Norman, who worked for former Queenstown club Loco, had a different idea.
Sam subsequently started working as a wedding DJ — a job he still has — while he’s also now involved in the construction industry.
He had the Whakatipu Frucore run till ’21, and later lost "the boyfriend and the husband and went through a period of ‘I don’t know what I’m doing"’.
But owning a home here made him determined to stay, so he started driving heavy machinery for Base Contracting.
That team, he says, has been "fantastic" — "really lovely and caring [to me], especially being gay".
Then, in ’23, the opportunity arose to buy Winter Pride, and Sam jumped on it, running his first 10-day festival last year.
He took time off to plan last year’s festival, and then started doing casual driving for Allied Concrete, enabling him to have the best of both worlds.
He describes Winter Pride as "gay Christmas", and a phenomenal way to meet a wide range of people in a safe and supportive environment.
"In Christchurch, you get to know the 20 gay boys that go out every single weekend, and that’s it.
"This [pre-Covid] had thousands of gay people at one time, and you’re meeting different friend groups from all over, going out for dinners and lunches and it just became this vibrant thing you look forward to.
"We’re wanting to grow this and be able to have children and families . . .come enjoy it as well."
Despite working with Martin and Mike on seven editions of Winter Pride, Sam says owning it’s been an eye-opener.
Aside from the "hate" the event gets on social media, and the negative nellies who’re happy to tell him he’s doing it wrong, many mistakenly believe Winter Pride’s a community-run event.
"It should, obviously, be council-run . . . which it’s not."
In fact, Sam notes last year Queenstown’s council actually pulled its event funding.
"All the Pride festivals all over the world, they’re hugely sponsored, and we’re not.
"We’re privately owned, privately funded."
It’s hard graft, particularly in the current economic climate, but he’s determined to find a way to continue to provide free, accessible events for the LGBTQIA+ community and allies in the CBD, such as last Saturday’s ‘Pride in the Lane’, and believes local businesses hold the key.
While many offer discounted drinks packages, or free experiences during Winter Pride, he’s got no interest in that, particularly given it’s one of the last events standing in the resort’s town centre, and almost 50% of this year’s attendees hail from across the ditch.
"This is very, very important for our community, bar staff and companies to make that Australian dollar, and that’s where we need to focus."
His hope is Queenstown’s business community, particularly the hospo industry, clips the Pink Dollar ticket, and considers supporting the event in future years with some of the profit, ensuring he can continue to do CBD activations to bring the punters in and support the place he now officially considers ‘home’.
