Cyclorama is the brainchild of film and TV producer Dave Gibson, who was inspired by similar international festivals — and McEntyre’s Hill, near Arrowtown.
Mr Gibson, who semi-retired to the village in 2018, said he used to find it a push to bike up the steep hill to go into Arrowtown, so purchased an e-bike, which made the journey much easier.
He then discovered there were e-bike festivals in Europe and one in Verbier, Switzerland, "that I thought looked really cool, it just this sort of really fun festival feeling".
He launched Cyclorama last year, intending for the event to be held in November, but it was postponed due to Covid crowd restrictions.
This year, he decided to bring the event forward, to stage it over the long weekend. He expects about 300 e-bikers to take part, with up to another 2000 people coming along for the ride.
"I’m hoping the walk-up crowd will be all the locals — the people who just come along and enjoy the band and look at the bikes for sale, I’m hoping will be all the locals, but in terms of the people who’ve bought tickets to go on rides is about 80% out of town.
"That’s the quite nice thing about Labour Weekend — we shifted it from last year, when it was in November, and thought we’ll put it in a three-day weekend and it’ll make it a bit more attractive, and I think that’s worked reasonably well."
The staggered, organised bike rides, include an early-morning Awake with the Birds cruise around Lake Hayes, including brunch at The Dishery on return; Tour de Gourmet, which includes degustation-style food stops at four locations along the way; Ginology, during which riders will make their own gin; The Hop Trail, a 50km ride highlighted with craft brewery tastings, and Peddling Pinot, a trip along the Arrowtown and Kawarau rivers to Gibbston for a tasting showcase and lunch.
Mr Gibson said on their return to Arrowtown, all the participants would end at different bars and restaurants to share the love throughout the town, while from 3pm both days, the Queenstown Funk Orchestra would be performing at the festival hub on Butler’s Green.
Made possible with the help of Regional Events Fund and Queenstown Lakes District Council support, Mr Gibson hoped to make the event annual, and, based on international examples, expected it to grow in years to come.
"It probably won’t quite wash its face this year, [but] I’ve looked at a lot of these sorts of things that run in Europe, and they just keep building — e-bikes are becoming such a big thing, they just keep growing and growing.
"I think next year it’ll be 25% or 30% bigger than this year and just carry on like that."
Destination Queenstown marketing and communications director Sarah O’Donnell said it was fantastic to welcome a new bike-focused event to the region, which would showcase the area’s amazing biking and the "huge range of world-class experiences" Queenstown was famous for.
