Despite steady drizzle, food lovers from throughout the world descended on the port town for its day of days, with an estimated 3000 revellers enjoying entertainment, gourmet delicacies and, of course, fresh Bluff oysters.
Festival chairman John Edminstin said everything but the weather had gone to plan, with festival-goers simply wrapping up to make the most of the day.
Bluff Promotions officer Lindsay Beer said he had received great feedback and paid tribute to the hard work put by the organising team.
‘‘Everyone's in a good, happy mood. It's fantastic,'' Mr Beer said.
‘‘John and his team have put this all together in 23 weeks and that's a truly amazing effort.''
Food and beverage marquees were packed, with the various stall-holders doing a roaring trade as more than 1500 dozen Bluff oysters were sold.
Stall-holder Jean Jablonski said the day got off to a slow start after a few issues with the electricity supply, but these were quickly fixed.
She said she was never concerned the weather would dictate the size of the crowd.
‘‘The weather is irrelevant,'' Ms Jablonski said.
‘‘If people rely on the weather to decide what they're going to, they haven't got any business being in Southland.''
While the crowd was predominantly made up of southerners, there was plenty of interest from out of town - and out of the country.
Londoner Eamonn Sexton travelled to New Zealand specially for the festival and was not disappointed.
‘‘It's fantastic. I can't believe it. I'm amazingly surprised,'' Mr Sexton said.
‘‘It's a great old time.''
Mr Sexton said the weather, if anything, had added to the enjoyment factor as it encouraged people to talk to each other.
Alexandra couple Steve and Margaret Whitren said they could not think of anything better to do on a wet day.
‘‘You just have to look at the amount of people here today,'' Mr Whitren said.
Competing in the traditional headline festival event, Queenstown-based Australian Adam Nagy won the oystereating race, downing a dozen in the final to defeat National MP Eric Roy.
Bluff's Keith Lovett and Marama Topi won the men's and women's oyster-opening titles respectively.
One dampener was the nonperformance of Wellington band Fat Freddy's Drop due to a breakdown in communication between the band's management, their Bluff-based spokesman and the festival's entertainment controller.
However, the band did make an appearance to present prizes later in the day.
Tasty treat . . .Dunedin visitors (from left) Glenis Sim, Neil Lyons and Colleen Lyons sample oysters at the Bluff Oyster and Food Festival on Saturday. PHOTO: DAVID RUSSELL/SOUTHERN EXPOSURES
