Just like the produce it’s becoming renowned for, the annual Te Puna Hall Harvest Market is growing bigger and better every year.
The festival – which is organised with the aim of connecting the rural community and celebrating the best of the area – is being held on Saturday, May 3 from 12pm-4pm, at the Te Puna Hall.
“Harvest festivals around the world traditionally celebrate the harvest,” said organiser Sue Clarke.
“Because Te Puna is a horticultural area with the kiwifruit harvest going on, avocados, feijoas, and everything else, we wanted to put something on for our community.”
Gus (3) Funnell Gus Funnell, among his grandmother’s giant pumpkins at her Minden home vegie patch. Photo / Brydie Thompson
Clarke said this year the number of stallholders – from growers to craftspeople to artisan producers – has flourished so much that produce and wares will spill out of Te Puna Hall and into the adjacent paddock.
Scarecrow competition
“For the kids we have free balloon animals, free donkey and pony rides and cute animals for cuddles, face painting and activities,” said Clarke.
“We also have and around 16 different food trucks, craft stalls, fresh flowers, plants, a four-piece band playing, books and lots of artisan producers for the foodies.”
Local schools and several organisations will run fundraisers too.
“There will be an interactive kids’ dance performance, a scarecrow competition – and, of course, the pumpkin contest.”
Committee member Vicki Ostler will enter her enormous pumpkin that grew “by accident” in the vegie patch of her Minden home.
“It was November last year when I put a few seeds in the ground, then I went away to Christchurch and when I next looked about six weeks later, there was a great big pumpkin in the garden,” she said.
“I’d only watered it once but it was sitting on a well mulched slope in full sun, so maybe that helped.”
Not just about size
The pumpkin competition is a major drawcard for the annual harvest market, said Clarke.
Last year there were about 40 entries, with the biggest weighing a whopping 98.7kg.
“But it’s not just about size,” said Clarke, who said the contest’s categories include heaviest, roundest, cutest, ugliest – and new for this year – best carved pumpkin.
“Bring your pumpkins to the back of the hall in the morning before the market starts – and between 10am and 11 am – so they can be registered, judged and be on display before it gets too busy.
“The prizegiving will take place at 2pm. Remember all entrants will get a prize.”
The market drew in about 5000 attendees last year, Clarke said.
“It was huge. And we expect it to be even bigger this year.”
The annual Te Puna Hall Harvest Market is on Saturday, May 3, from 12pm-4pm.