Planning and preparation is well underway for the inaugural Whangarei Fritter Festival to be held at Toll Stadium on Saturday 30 March.

“Interest from the public has been very encouraging and a lot of local restaurants and vineyards have already confirmed their spot at the festival”, said Venues and Events Whangarei Marketing and Events Manager, Rachel O’Gorman.

Some of the restaurants who have fully confirmed their involvement include A Deco, Killer Prawn, Bank Street Social Club and Absolute Caterers as well as vineyards Karikari Estate and Sailfish Cove.

“Many others are now finalising their requirements and there is going to be an exciting and scrumptious array of fritters, foods and wines for the public to enjoy at the festival”, says Ms O’Gorman.

On the entertainment front, as well as the headline acts on the main stage, The Black Seeds, Sola Rosa and Batucada Sound Machine, local musicians are now being finalised for the second acoustic stage at the festival.

Original Northland based trio The Hewson Project are confirmed for the festival, and are defining local Kiwi chillout mixing phat RnB electronic groove with fluid jazz fusion. Daniel Hewson (son of legendary song writer and keyboardist, Paul Hewson, of Dragon fame) fronts the group and is joined by Makareta Umbers and Warwick Simpson.

“Their latest album ‘This Moment’ has been met with rave reviews from NZ critics and it is a real pleasure to have them performing at the first ever Whangarei Fritter Festival”, says Ms O’Gorman.

“This is going to be an exciting day with so much fantastic music and amazing food.

“Whangarei has to get out and support the festival if we want it to become a regular annual event for the city. We want the people of Whangarei to have a festival they can be proud of and call their own and that showcases our beautiful District to people from out of town during the Easter break. Whangarei is a wonderful place and this is a great opportunity to attract people from outside our District and promote Whangarei as an events destination, so spread the word around your family and friends”.

Ms O’Gorman wants to remind people that Early Bird ticket sales are available at a special price of $30 for an adult until 28 February and people need to be quick to take advantage of this special price.