Earnslaw Park will undergo a transformation this weekend for the launch of the Taste Queenstown mini food, wine and art festival - the first of three weekends of downtown Rugby World Cup (RWC) celebrations.
Featuring cooking demonstrations, food and wine stalls, an arts and crafts market and an array of local and regional performers, the action begins at 11.40am tomorrow.
As part of the RWC's nation-wide REAL New Zealand Festival and Queenstown's Matches Made in Heaven programme, Taste Queenstown will be held over the next two weekends.
Queenstown Lakes District RWC co-ordinator Jono Sutherland told the Queenstown Times only the finishing touches remained before the festival was ready to begin.
He said the musical highlights include Invercargill band Pipeworkz, delivering a unique fusion of Pacific and Scottish flavours, local Wakatipu High School indie-rock lads, The Fletcherz, and the Lynch Mob.
Joining them will be RockFormation local rock and contemporary youth bands, and Kiwi Haka, the Buckingham Belles, and the Arrow Miners Band.
A focus of the event would be the "Best in the Wakatipu" competitions, which start on Saturday with the pinot noir contest, judged by local wine expert Paul Tudgay.
Sunday will see the "Southland Sushi Sumurais" go head-to-head to prove who has the best cheese rolls in the region, with Queenstown Lakes District Mayor Vanessa van Uden in the adjudicator's seat.
Events manager Craig Gallagher said they were still looking for Southland sushi entrants, but he thought people would enter on the day, rather than pre-registering.
Compared with previous events, the festival will see a re-jigged layout of Earnslaw Park in response to feedback from nearby businesses.
The stage will back on to the toilet block, and food and wine stalls will be set up on the lake side of Beach St, creating a "sound-shelter effect" to reduce noise, and also improving access for the neighbouring businesses.
It will be erected today, and will stay until October 23.
Taste Queenstown was made possible by combining $50,000 of Lottery Grants Board funding for separate food, wine and art themed and heritage events around the Rugby World Cup, Mr Sutherland said.
It is also sharing infrastructure with the Queenstown Jazz Festival, for which Destination Queenstown received $30,000 of funding, "What we have done is pool all of that together with things like the stage, and together, do what we couldn't achieve without doing that."
Next weekend will see more cooking demonstrations, pie and cup-cake competitions and more performers.
Festivities will carry on for a third week, after Taste Queenstown concludes, with the five-day musical feast that is the Queenstown Jazz Festival from October 20-24.