The $150-a-ticket lunch was the community fundraising launch for the planned $6 million amalgamation of the Forrester Gallery, North Otago Museum and Waitaki District Archive.
External funding applications are under way for the Waitaki District Council's cultural facility development project, but project committee chairman Cr Hugh Perkins said he was ''very encouraged'' by the community support.
Oamaru's The Saggy Britches Band entertained as diners in Harbour St tucked in to a three-hour ''feast'' of beetroot and gin-cured salmon; West Coast swordfish; fresh chorizo; Windsor blue and caramelised onion sausages with Marlborough figs; whole roast harbour fish with ginger, chilli and lime; barrel-roasted Okaahu lamb; barbecued Mt Cook salmon; and a variety of salads and dessert options.
''There's always a lot of work,'' Mr Smith, owner of Riverstone Kitchen, said. ''But that's Sally-Ann's forte.
''The two of us together, it's a really good partnership.''
At the end of March, the Waitaki District Council voted unanimously to increase the budget for the gallery redevelopment from $4.5 million to $6 million - and to increase the council's contribution from a loan-funded $1.5million to $1.9million, the extra $400,000 coming from gallery depreciation reserves.
The council's community services group manager, Thunes Cloete, said ''a requirement of the external funders'' was for one third of the total project cost to come from the council and community fundraising efforts combined.
The project had already received $111,000 from local charitable trusts.
The amount raised by the Forrester Laneway Long Lunch was not available at the weekend.
