Bluff Oyster Festival organisers urged to shift event to Invercargill

Wednesday, 14 December 2022

Bluff Oysters, the star attraction at the Bluff Oyster and Food Festival. [File photo]

The Bluff Oyster and Food Festival organising committee has been asked to re-think its decision to cancel the 2023 event and instead hold it in Invercargill.

The festival, which attracts 4000 people, was to be held on May 20, but has now been cancelled due to a former hotel adjacent to the festival site in Bluff having a dangerous building notice on it.

It’s the second year running it’s been cancelled, with Covid-19 the reason in 2022.

On Wednesday, Invercargill Mayor Nobby Clark approached organising committee chairperson John Edminston and suggested alternative sites in Invercargill to try to ensure the 2023 Bluff Oyster and Food Festival could still go ahead.

The Bluff Oyster and Food Festival was to be held on May 20 has been postponed due to the Club Hotel, in Bluff, adjoining the festival site, being declared a dangerous building and requiring demolition.

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Edmondson has since emailed the committee members to gather their views on Clark’s suggestion.

Committee member Kylie Fowler said they were still working through that request, but her personal opinion was that it was a Bluff event, and she was not a fan of the idea of staging it in Invercargill.

She also said that there was a purpose-built venue in Bluff that should be hosting the 2023 festival. Fowler was disappointed that they were unable to get the demolition consent, with the Invercargill City Council, sorted in time.

Fowler joined the committee 14 years ago when she said there was a threat of the festival being shifted to Invercargill.

“The reality is the majority of the people who put together this iconic event live in Bluff. We put a lot of our time and energy into it, and now we should travel to town to do it? I can’t see it working.

“We do this for Bluff, and Southland, but first and foremost we’re Bluffies.”

Fowler believed the key reason why the event was so popular was that those attending wanted to eat a Bluff oyster in Bluff.

ILT board member and Southland Racing Club president Sean Bellew has offered up Ascot Park Raceway as a potential alternative venue to host the 2023 festival.

ILT Stadium Southland general manager Nigel Skelt was also keen on providing an option for an alternative venue for the 2023 Bluff Oyster and Food Festival.

Bellew said cancelling such a significant Southland event would have an impact on the economy, particularly with accommodation and hospitality, but also retail consumption.

“I think if we lose it for two years in a row it loses its impetus. These events should be cherished.”

Bellew said he would get involved in helping the organisers as part of a joint-venture to make it work at the Ascot Park Raceway.

“I don’t want to hi-jack Bluff’s venue, but provide the festival with a solution.

“Let’s not be parochial here, it’s Bluff’s event but let Southland take ownership of the event to provide a solution.”

He said the event can return to Bluff “at a drop of a hat” when the site in Bluff was able to be used again.