The Harvest Festival was held on March 21 2009 and it was a beautiful late summer day.
Parking was in a huge paddock and buses were used to transport people to and from the event.
There was a limit of 2000 people and 1000 tickets were sold at the gate at a premium price as opposed to prices for pre sold ticket, so it was a popular event especially with the sun shining.
There was music and entertainment through out the day, people were out in their summer finery, lots of dresses and hats, with festival tasting glasses hanging from a cord around necks to avoid misplacing them.
All wineries did a brisk trade from early in the morning when the festival opened at 11am right through until 5.45 when the rain came bucketing down! It was torrential for about 20 minutes and those hardy sorts who stayed until closure at 6pm huddled under the marquees finishing the last of their wine!
There were 2 wineries to 1 food supplier in each marquee, there were wonderful scents coming from everywhere with an interesting menu of rabbit pies, paua fritters, whitebait fritters, gourmet hamburgers, fruit pies, pancakes and many many more items from local cafes and restaurants.
Chairs, tables and shade umbrellas were well used, with groups finding spots among the old trees -many several hundred years old.
You could buy a smaller wine tasting, a full glass of wine, and there were special prices for people interested in buying bottles of any wine they particularly liked.
There was a great atmosphere as people tried many different wines, asked lots of questions, talked to their friends, and ate some delicious food, all under a brilliant sunny wairarapa sky.
