History will be both made and re-enacted when 150 years of ministry and worship in Queenstown are celebrated by Wakatipu past and present parishioners over a bumper weekend of community festivities.
The 150th anniversary of the first service held in St Peter's Anglican Church, built on the site given to the Wakatipu parish by Queenstown founder William Gilbert Rees, will be on Sunday.
The commemorative service at 10.30am is at the heart of the activities when the Anglican Bishop of Dunedin, the Rt Rev Dr Kelvin Wright, will lead the congregation with four former vicars taking part.
Those special guests will be the Rev Geoff Neilson (1970-78), the Rev Rory Redmayne (1985-89), the Ven Neil Fuge (1995-2002) and the Rev Hugh McCafferty (2003-07), joined by Queenstown Lakes Mayor Vanessa van Uden.
Participants are encouraged to wear period costume to match the occasion of 150 years ago where everybody was keen to be seen in their Sunday best.
The 150th commemorative banner, made by the Queenstown Embroiderers' Guild, will be dedicated.
Queenstown musician Mark Wilson has composed a hymn to mark the anniversary, which will also be performed at the service.
After the service, a tree-planting ceremony will be followed by the Wakatipu Parish midwinter dinner. Vicar the Rev Dr David Coles said celebrating a century and a-half of ministry and worship was significant and the anniversary was not just about the first Anglican church built in Wakatipu.
The celebrations begin tomorrow morning when parishioners and others take a pilgrimage walk from all corners of the parish to arrive at St Peter's by noon.
For those journeying from the peninsula, walkers will depart Kelvin Heights Beach at 10am. Those from Arrowtown will start a bike
ride at St Paul's Church at 10am.
Converging on the Boat Shed, Frankton Marina, they will be joined by Dr Coles at 11am to walk the lakefront to St Peter's.
Walkers from Sunshine Bay will leave the Reserve Fernhill Rd area at 11am and those traversing from Arthurs Point will depart the Coronet Peak Hotel at 11am.
The walkers and bikers will gather at St Peter's for games and crafts, a sausage sizzle and soup.
The Queenstown and District Historical Society has organised an illustrated talk on congregations in the early days and heritage buildings in Queenstown.
Rosemary Marryatt, great-granddaughter of Rees, will give insights from the founder's diaries, paintings and family anecdotes from 5pm, followed by the opening of the ''Brides and Baptisms'' exhibition with live music.
The display of gowns worn by ancestors on two of the most important days of their lives continues in the parish hall until September 8.
