1492 days ago

Student-led beer festival attracts thousands, but only a few hundred Scarfies

Jake Kenny Reporter from Community News

Turns out students are good at organising a beer festival.

Now in its eighth year, this weekend’s Dunedin Craft Beer and Food Festival should see 12,000 people pour through the gates of Forsyth Barr Stadium to sup on ale and cider and enjoy music from the likes of Don McGlashan and Ladi6.

Perhaps unusually for Dunedin, most of those beer lovers will not be students.

The festival is run by the Otago University and Students’ Association (OUSA), which launched it eight years ago on the concrete pad at Forsyth Barr as rain, wind and hail struck the roof.

“In those first couple of years, people were pretty nervous,'’ Jason Schroeder, OUSA’s events and venues operations manager admits.

That trepidation wasn’t entirely unfounded, with students’ alcohol-fuelled incidents attracting negative headlines.

Schroeder said for many it was difficult to understand why OUSA would put on a beer festival, which crucially was not aimed at students.

But word soon spread about the event, and by the next year the festival had encroached to a part of the grass, and then the year after reached the halfway line.

Within four years it covered the entire grass surface, and in recent years has become a two-day event, Friday and Saturday, with the former aimed at working professionals, Schroeder said.

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More messages from your neighbours
7 days ago

Poll: Should all neighbours have to contribute to improvements?

The Team from Neighbourly.co.nz

An Auckland court has ruled a woman doesn’t have to contribute towards the cost of fixing a driveway she shares with 10 neighbours.

When thinking about fences, driveways or tree felling, for example, do you think all neighbours should have to pay if the improvements directly benefit them?

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Should all neighbours have to contribute to improvements?
  • 81.9% Yes
    81.9% Complete
  • 15.3% No
    15.3% Complete
  • 2.7% Other - I'll share below
    2.7% Complete
2415 votes
14 minutes ago

Cupboards of calm

The Team from Resene ColorShop Dunedin

Transform the inside of your humble storage spaces with Resene paint and you’ll be happy to delve into them in future.

Get our quick tips to transform your storage spaces.

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16 days ago

What's your favourite recipe for courgettes?

Mei Leng Wong Reporter from NZ Gardener & Get Growing

Kia ora neighbours. If you've got a family recipe for courgettes, we'd love to see it and maybe publish it in our magazine. Send your recipe to mailbox@nzgardener.co.nz, and if we use it in the mag, you will receive a free copy of our January 2025 issue.

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