Iconic festival benefits locals

Sara Meij-Kilpatrick

With temperatures up around the 30s and the upcoming harvest looking promising, it must be the time of year to celebrate Marlborough in all its glory, sipping local wines and sampling delicious food while listening to beats at the Marlborough Wine & Food Festival.

Community groups that have been involved with the festival for many years include Blenheim Lions, Blenheim South Rotary, Springlands Sea Scouts, Marlborough Amateur Radio Club, Blenheim Playcentre, Whitney Street School, Māori Wardens, Cancer Society and Blenheim Volunteer Fire Department. The 15 community groups involved last year made over $27,000, directly benefitting the community.

Since its inception in 1985, the festival has celebrated the region, its people and globally renowned wine industry that contributes at least 20% of the region’s GDP (Gross Domestic Product) and supports 1 in 5 jobs. In 2025, over 5700 festival-goers attended Marlborough Wine & Food Festival - almost half of them from outside Marlborough.

Blenheim Playcentre helps with the entrance ticketing at the festival, which is their largest single fundraising event of the year. “The Wine & Food Festival is such an iconic Marlborough event,” says Chairperson Autumn Faulkner. “As a community-based organisation, we love being part of the festival and seeing the positivity that it brings to people.”

Faulkner says the raised funds go directly back to supporting Blenheim Playcentre through purchasing new learning and play resources for the children. “Fundraising can be very challenging, especially within the current economic climate, and we find this a great event to be involved with,” she says. “It’s also a really fun day for the parents who volunteer.”

Whitney Street School principal Christee Dalzell agrees. “We feel incredibly fortunate to play a role in an event that does so much more than just boost the local economy,” she says. The fundraising effort helps to subsidise costs like stationery and supports “nice-to-have” projects for the school, reducing the out-of-pocket expenses for the parents. Whitney Street School has been producing and selling the iconic wine glass neck holders at the festival for the past 20 years.

Wine Marlborough Event Manager Loren Coffey says behind every successful event is a strong network of local partners working together behind the scenes.

“Focus Labour Solutions’ long-standing support is a great example of how collaboration across the local industry helps make Marlborough’s biggest day out happen,” she says. Focus Labour Solutions provides labour at a discounted rate for erecting marquees and packing down. “We feel Wine Marlborough supports us and the industry, so the least we can do is to support them and their amazing event,” says Focus Labour Solutions General Manager Brendon Corcoran.