Kāpiti Coast, Wellington, New Zealand, December 7th, 2022: With well over 10,000+ visitors flowing through the gates of Mazengarb Reserve on Saturday 3 December, the Kāpiti Food Fair team are thrilled with the turnout for the 2022 event and thankful for the gorgeous day served up on the beautiful Kāpiti Coast!

With the sun shining, visitors indulged in a day filled with food, drinks, and entertainment by talented performing artists who warmed the crowd up for our headlining act. Early acts were Play On Words, In The Shallows and the Julie Lamb Outfit, before Aotearoa Music Awards Tui Winner for Best Country Artist, Jody Direen and her band had the crowd enraptured on the Tuatara Stage.

At the Sustainable Foods Kitchen Stage, we had a line-up of our world-famous local chefs – Kyran Rei of Sustainable Foods, Lance Meynell, the 2022 NZ Masterchef top 10 competitor who presented in tandem with Ben Wakefield of Kaibosh Kāpiti, and Fiona Greig of Sunday Cantina, who all shared inspirational tips and tricks to foodie Fair goers. Buskers and aerial performers stunned and mezmerised everyone in the ZEAL Zone.

“It was a massive day and one we’re still joyfully recovering from and what was cemented for us, is the fact we are Kāpiti’s largest major event which makes us both feel immensely proud,” shared co-owner Helene Judge. “Every year, we endeavour to make this event one of the best to showcase the Kāpiti Coast, as well as highlighting amazing food products, drinks, and more to our local and regional crowds. This year was absolutely magical and a day that we won’t forget for a very long time!”

The crowd that descended upon the Kāpiti Coast were dedicated foodies, and locals, who came out to show their love of the community and all things food - bringing their whānau, friends and pooches too. The Site Map saw about 250 vendors listed with the range of vendors including ready to eat deliciousness to devour on the day and packaged product delights to take home.

This year also saw a large liquor zone that allowed visitors to taste a variety of alcoholic delights. 32% of vendors were made-up of Kāpiti-based businesses, and overall, 62% of vendors offered packaged and food & beverage products, and 38% were ready to eat foods being served up by awesome humans from food trucks or under gazebo sites.

The Off Licence Liquor Zone was also a big hit with visitors taking home new drinks to sample or gifts for their holiday shopping. “This year we had craft beers, wines and cider and also saw many different kinds of liqueurs and ports, and spirit distilleries were highlighted as well,” shared Helene. “No matter if they came from out of the region or right here on the Kāpiti Coast, these vendors did not disappoint. They came from as far South as Wanaka and to the North, we hosted four vendors who travelled in convoy from Waiheke Island.”

“The day was non-stop from the moment we opened the gates,” said Jeanine van Kradenburg. “With the return of our kitchen stage and an entertainment line-up including talented local rangatahi solo artists from ZEAL, the Kāpiti Community Choir, and the Colossal NZ young circus performers in the ZEAL Zone, and with big bands on the Tuatara Stage, this attracted crowds from near and far on the day. The weather was superb, the vendors were super busy that was evident with long queues, and many running out of product. We were buoyed on as a team seeing the smiles on the faces of visitors and vendors.”

Vendor registration for the 2023 Kāpiti Food Fair will open early in April 2023. Vendors are urged to look-out for our first email campaign and to book their site early to avoid disappointment.

“We had an ambitious objective to reduce waste to the landfill by 85% in 2022,” shared Jeanine. “In 2019, we began our five-year waste minimisation strategy, and we chose to work closely with Organic Wealth to support our waste efforts who are minimisation experts. They also trained our No 49 Squadron volunteers who are an integrated part of our waste collection efforts as their annual fundraiser, and at the Fair they helped visitors to separate their waste into the right bins.”

Organic Wealth ran a very efficient on-site waste depot that separated all waste with no signs of contamination before daylight left the Mazengarb Reserve at the end of the day. They achieved this and have given us a heads-up that we have diverted 86% from landfill this year which is super amazing. This is thanks to all of our ready to eat vendors getting on-board with our waste programme and using compostable serving products and visitors helping to separate their waste in the bins provided. We can’t wait to receive the waste report from Organic Wealth that will identify waste streams, volumes, and recommendations for action.

Looking ahead to 2023, the team is already thinking about what to deliver next as they wrap this year’s Fair. Part of the process includes gathering stats, reviewing the visitor survey, and going over what worked, as well as what didn’t, for 2022. This information helps to enhance the overall experience for visitors and to make sure they return. “When you promise a tasty and indulgent day out, you want to deliver,” laughed Helene.

“We had a 150+ crew with us this year which takes much planning, training and wrangling so they deliver a seamless performance on the day,” Helene continued. “There are many people and different organisations involved doing important jobs at the Fair. Kāpiti Rotary help with our logistical set-up, the ATM and at Gate Entry; the No 49 Squadron Air Cadets are our waste busters; the Paraparaumu College Parent’s Association helped with set-up and collecting gold coin parking donations; and Work Ready Kāpiti were magnificent ticket scanners and runners.”

“In addition, we had a large team from ANZ Paraparaumu who worked hard in the Ticket Office to issue tickets to those visitors who had not pre-purchased online. We will be campaigning hard in 2023 to encourage visitors to avoid the ticket queue and to buy their ticket online so they can scan in quickly on arrival. Each one of our crew worked tirelessly behind the scenes alongside us to make the event a super fun day for everyone – we thank them hugely for their efforts and commitment to the Fair. It was because of them, our community, our vendors, our entertainers, and our amazing sponsors that Jeanine and I were able to roll out the Kāpiti Food Fair this year in super style.”

Sponsors of the Fair are: PLATINUM: The Chris and Melinda Leatham Charitable Trust; GOLD: NZME Kāpiti News and The Hits 92.7; SILVER: Mike Pero Mortgages Zebunisso Alimova, SignCraft Kāpiti, Sustainable Foods – Plan*t, Templeton Group, Tuatara Brewing; BRONZE: ANZ Paraparaumu, ANZIL, Flightdec; And the Fair has been a recipient of the Kāpiti Major Events Fund since 2016. “Our Sponsor relationships are hugely important for the future sustainability of the Fair,” commented Helene.

“We’re already planning on 2023 being as epic, if not more so, than 2022,” added Jeanine. “Mark your calendars now for December 2nd, 2023. We’ll be back at Mazengarb Reserve in Paraparaumu and ready to serve up a good time! But for now, we thank each and each one of our visitors for coming along and sharing GOOD friends, GOOD times and GOOD food with us.”

About:

Kāpiti Food Fair was established in 2008 as a community event with humble beginnings. Now privately owned and operated in a business partnership between Helene Judge and Jeanine van Kradenburg, the vision of the Fair is about making a lasting impression in the minds and bodies of all foodies.

While their mission is to bring visitors to Kāpiti for a fun, tasty and indulgent day out with GOOD friends, GOOD times and GOOD food, Helene and Jeanine also endeavour for Kāpiti Food Fair to be remembered as an iconic food and beverage pop-up extravaganza that sees visitors returning year after year.

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