Scallop event shelved for the year

Christina Anne Davies and Hanna Sharps enjoying their food during last year’s festival. Supplied photo.

One of Whitianga's most iconic seafood festivals is being put on hold for the year, due to planned upgrades in the town.

The Whitianga Scallop Festival is well in its 14th year and is highly anticipated each year by seafood lovers around the nation.

Held annually in September, the festival is a celebration of Coromandel's finest scallops, grown in their own area and cooked in every way imaginable.

A purpose-built tent village at Mercury Bay hosts about 60 food and drink stalls, as well as stages with live bands and celebrity chefs conducting cooking and seafood demonstrations.

Festival co-ordinator Fiona Kettlewell says the decision to postpone the event, has not been made lightly.

'Unfortunately, due to planned upgrades with the Whitianga Marina and Whitianga Town Centre, areas normally set aside for the festival will not be available to us this year.

'The committee have deliberated over the last three months and have decided to take a ‘gap' year for the 2018 Whitianga Scallop Festival.

'This decision was not made lightly but after many discussions around the possibility of relocating the festival to other sites around Whitianga the cost and logistics of doing this would have been too much.

'Whitianga Scallop Festival will be back with a new look new feel festival in 2019 ready to brighten what will be Whitianga's town centre new look.”

You may also like....

0 comments

Leave a Comment


You must be logged in to make a comment.