Feast attendance doubles

Boat Thongkam, of Gore, serves up chicken noodle soup at the Hokonui Culture Feast on Friday....
Boat Thongkam, of Gore, serves up chicken noodle soup at the Hokonui Culture Feast on Friday. PHOTO: BEN ANDREWS
The Hokonui Culture Feast is quickly becoming one of the biggest events on the Gore district’s calendar.

On Friday a record crowd of an estimated 1200 people attended the feast.

There were 22 food vendors and 11 performances and 18 different cultures were represented on the night.

Gore District Council senior events co-ordinator Jessica Swan said the evening was a great success.

"Everyone put on their best show. All the performances were amazing. They all just brought so much energy," Ms Swan said.

Members of the audience joined the action, as they jumped up to dance along with the performers, she said.

Feedback from the event had been positive.

"We have food vendors who sold out pretty much everything, we’ve had performers message saying they had a really good time and we’ve had the odd comment on Facebook."

The night had a positive vibe throughout, she said.

Last year it was estimated about 600 people attended the event and the number is estimated to have doubled this year.

"It’s really cool.

"It’s a good feeling for our food vendors as well."

She wanted to thank Ajax Building Contractors Ltd, which sponsored the event.

"It’s honestly because of them that we managed to keep entry free and pay for some of these performers to come from out of town.

"We were just really grateful to them."

ben.andrews@theensign.co.nz