Queenstown Winter Festival 2012

We all know that Queenstown’s annual winter celebrating is just around the corner when the freezing temperatures arrive and snow graces the Wakatipu hills and mountains.

The Queenstown Winter Festival is Queenstown’s premiere event covering 10 days of fun-filled events. Started the 38 years ago, the festival has evolved into New Zealand’s biggest winter party, and with only a month to go the organising and planning is in full swing. This year’s festival runs from June 22 to July 1.

This year’s event is missing two of the festival’s hallmark events with the Masquerade Ball and Jazz Night left off the programme, but the highly-anticipated ‘Mountain Scene Prenents… Thriller in the Chiller’ community boxing event has been promoted to a Saturday night spot (June 30) and the festival organisers scored a coup with New Zealand’s favourite comedy duo, Bret McKenzie and Jermaine Clement from Flight of the Conchords, performing at the Queenstown Events Centre on Sunday, June 24.

The festival kicks off on Friday afternoon/evening with the American Express Opening Party & Fireworks. Revellers descend on Earnslaw Park from 5:30pm to drink mulled wine, eat street food, and rock out to sounds from local singers and entertainers. Fireworks above the lake in Queenstown Bay are scheduled for 7pm.

It’s an event not to be missed, get into it!