The Queenstown Winter Festival is back from June 24 to July 3 this year, starting winter with a bang in the resort.
"Queenstown's magnificent snow-capped mountains, crystal clear lake and buzzing cosmopolitan resort town provide the perfect backdrop for the internationally acclaimed festival.
Each year, tens of thousands of locals and visitors take to the streets and slopes for 10 days of non-stop fun, featuring live music, fireworks, glamorous balls, crazy races, comedy, charity punch-ups and loads of family fun," Destination Queenstown chief executive Tony Everitt said.
DQ owns the 37-year-old festival and Mr Everitt said that now the focus had shifted towards the winter season, anticipation was building strongly for this year's event, which promised to be a hit.
"Winter Festival has always been the town's way of declaring Queenstown is open for winter and celebrating it with a really good party - and the more people who come the merrier.
It's the perfect time for visitors to experience Queenstown and enjoy the festivities as part of their winter holiday," he said.
"The festival is fantastic for the town.
It unites the community, entertains our visitors and starts the winter season with a bang."
Mr Everitt said the success of the Winter Festival had "snowballed" over the years, earning it a solid national and international reputation.
It has been ranked among the world's top 10 "must-do" festivals by Australian website Yahoo!7 Travel.
Festival director Simon Green said while the Winter Festival's programme of free and ticketed events was inherently Kiwi - and Queenstown - in nature, it appealed to a broad global audience.
"We inject new events into the programme each year but have always stayed true to the festival's roots - celebrating winter and Queenstown's unique culture and community," Mr Green said.
