The third Gibbston Harvest Festival attracted even bigger crowds than previous years, with nearly 2700 people - including more than 100 volunteers - attending and taking the opportunity to sample a wide variety of local food and wines.
The event, which shifts to a new Gibbston winery location each year, was held at Mt Rosa Wines last Saturday.
Previous venues have been Peregrine Winery in 2006 and Waitiri Creek Wines last year.
Organiser Susan Stevens said the annual event would continue to move to a different winery every year.
‘‘We want to continue to give exposure to the other beautiful settings and locations in Gibbston,'' Mrs Stevens said.
The event focuses on three main areas: family; maintaining a local theme with regard to stallholders, attendees, the recipient of the proceeds and location; and continuing to attract sponsorship so that 100 per cent of the money raised can be given to charity.
This year's festival was sponsored by transport company PBT and the charity chosen to receive the proceeds was the Wakatipu Trails Trust Gibbston River Trail, although Mrs Stevens was still in the process of tallying up the final figures.
She said the master classes on the day were ‘‘extremely well attended'' and feedback she received on the event overall had been positive.
‘‘It seems everyone had a fantastic day and thought it was just brilliant.''
Mrs Stevens praised the host of volunteers, which included women from the Wakatipu Lions, students from Queenstown Resort College, tourism students from the University of Otago and members of the Gibbston community.
‘‘It was really fantastic to have such widespread support from the volunteers.
‘‘You really need all those people to make it look like it's all running smoothly.'' June Evans, of Arrowtown, was there last Saturday with her husband Graham, soaking up the atmosphere and a wine or two.
She said they had attended all three of the festivals and they thought it was ‘‘just a great family day out''.
Fiona Watherston, of Dalefield, agreed and said the event had ‘‘an amazing community feel, and that just doesn't happen that often anymore''.
