Czeching out festival

Karolina Chnelokova  and Lukas Kouba,  of the Czech Republic, sample some local produce at the Cromwell Wine and Food Festival on Saturday.  The duo are travelling around New Zealand for two months and stopped at the festival for a short break.

Festival duty manager Barbara Emmitt said although the weather was colder than expected, bad weather experienced  earlier in the day had disappeared.

"It could have been a bit warmer [but] everyone’s very cruisy and seems to be having a good time."

The festival was a fundraiser for the Old Cromwell Inc Society and would be put towards the restoration of an 1890s building in the precinct and the rebuild of Armando’s  Kitchen, which suffered a fire in November and was closed indefinitely, Ms Emmitt said.

She said about 1000 people  attended the festival.