A great excuse to gather the girls (or guys!) together for two delicious set-menu courses and a glass of wine.

Start with warm Clareville sourdough, smoked kahawai & pickles, and kumara hummus, followed by your main choice of crisp skin market fish with leek, fennel, lemon and capers or pan fried Agria gnocchi, butternut pumpkin, sage & peppered Pecorino.

Time:  From 12.00pm - 3.00pm

Price:  $49 per person for two-course set menu and glass of wine (choice of Martinborough Vineyard Te Tera Sauvignon Blanc or Pinot Gris, or Te Kairanga Estate Pinot Noir).  Click here to book online

Where:  The Runholder, 89 Martins Road, Martinborough

Website:  www.therunholder.co.nz

Together again for one spectacular show, Steve Carlin and The Rodger Fox Big Band team up to bring you “Hits of the Rat Pack” – a journey through the timeless melodies made famous by the likes of Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Co.

Experience the raw power of the full 17-piece big band, accompanied by NZ’s expert crooner Steve Carlin, as they re-create the magic of the Rat Pack through hits such as New York, New York, Mack the Knife, Fly me to the Moon and more.

A show not to be missed for lovers of great music.

Time:  8.00pm

Price:  Click here for prices and to buy tickets

Where:  Carterton Events Centre, Holloway Street, Carterton

Website:  www.cartertonec.co.nz

As well as selling apples and pears to commercial sellers and for juice, Molewood Orchard operates a ‘farm gate’ allowing people to pick their own fruit during picking season, which in 2024 runs from March until May.

So if the idea of spending an hour or two wandering down rows of trees laden with fresh delicious apples - Pacific Rose, Granny Smith, Galaxy and Braeburn and pears - Packham, Taylor's Gold, Doyenne du Comice and Beurre Bosc, we have got your weekend plans covered!

The orchard is only a short walk or bike ride from Main Street, and there is parking in the orchard and along Mole St.

When: 9.00am - 4.00pm Weekends, from March 2nd up to and including King’s birthday weekend, so our last pick your own day will be Monday 3rd June.

Where: 17 Mole St, Greytown, Wairarapa

What to Bring: Please bring a bucket, basket or bag for the apples. You’re welcome to bring a picnic lunch as well and make a day of it - the new Molewood Meadows are perfect for a picnic, a bit of frisbee, or a random game of cricket. Sunscreen and a hat are a good idea too.

Price:  $2 / kilo

Delaney Davidson and Barry Saunders are storytellers who use music as their medium, and coming together as collaborators has taken them in new and exciting directions. “These songs just started appearing out of the kitchen air,” said Davidson, “and we were grabbing them as fast as we could.” They talk with Lucy Cooper about “the strange territory” they share making music together.

Time:  3.30pm - 4.30pm

Price:  Click here for prices and to buy tickets

Where:  Featherston Anzac Hall, 62 Bell Street, Featherston

Website:  www.booktown.org.nz

The abundant and the beautiful: making good food and fibre that won’t break the planet

Justine Ross (Meet You At The Main Divide) and her husband Geoff almost broke the internet when Country Calendar filmed their Central Otago station. In the shearing shed, shearers worked to the music of Vivaldi and shorn sheep slid down chutes to land on mattresses. Raised eyebrows from traditional farmers are nothing new to Yotam Kay (The Abundant Kitchen and The Abundant Garden), who established Pākaraka Permaculture in 2014 with his wife, Niva. Over the now famous spread that is our Mother's Day afternoon tea and JOIY mimosas, Yotam and Justine will talk with Helen Lehndorf (A Forager's Life) about the future of food and agriculture, and the planet we want to leave our grandchildren.

Generously sponsored by Millie Blackwell.

Time:  3.00pm - 4.30pm

Price:  Click here for prices and to buy tickets

Where:  Featherston Anzac Hall, 62 Bell Street, Featherston

Website:  www.booktown.org.nz

Delaney Davidson and Barry Saunders are storytellers who use music as their medium, and coming together as collaborators has taken them in new and exciting directions. “These songs just started appearing out of the kitchen air,” said Davidson, “and we were grabbing them as fast as we could.” They talk with Lucy Cooper about “the strange territory” they share making music together.

Time:  11.00am - 12.00pm

Price:  Click here for prices and to buy tickets

Where:  Featherston Anzac Hall, 62 Bell Street, Featherston

Website:  www.booktown.org.nz

A festival of books, storytelling and ideas.

Featherston Booktown is a year-round literature development organisation whose largest individual project is the annual Karukatea Festival, held in May.

The Karukatea Festival is a significant regional/national cultural event involving collaborations with Mana Whenua – and regional and national literary festivals and organisations, as well as strong community involvement through the Young Readers Programme in schools and Festival volunteers.

Other initiatives include the Young Reader’s Programme, the popular Book Voucher scheme which provides South Wairarapa children with book vouchers, the Booklover’s Trail Te Ara Kai Pukapuka Audio App, the Featherston Booktown Podcast and YouTube channel and the Rural Readers Outreach Programme.

Featherston Booktown aims to grow great communities by inspiring the diverse populations of Featherston/Paetūmōkai, the wider Wairarapa and Aotearoa New Zealand to read more, write more, engage in dialogue, and share ideas.

Click here to view the festival programme.

Click here to view Featherston's Bookstores.

Official Website:  https://www.booktown.org.nz/

Ticketing Information

Eventfinda

All tickets this year will be available on Eventfinda. From 9:00 AM on Monday, 18 March, you will be able to purchase tickets at the Martinborough and Masterton i-site visitor information centres as well.

Children Events are Free

All the events for children will be free of charge and this is made possible through the generosity of our funders and sponsors, including the South Wairarapa District Council and Trust House Foundation.

Book for Free Events

Please register for every event that you would like to attend, whether there is a ticket fee or not.  Some of our venues are modest in size and by registering we can keep tabs on the audience size and whether our venue can safely fit everyone in.

Special Ticket on Saturday Night

There is one ticket price ($50) for the two events on Saturday night at the Anzac Hall for the Moana to Moana Gala Night. Those events are: Pasifika Power and Women on a Mission: Linda Clarke & Moana Maniapoto. Before each event there will be a grazing table supplied by Ant North Catering, including in the ticket price. There will be a bar with Eftpos available if you would like to purchase alcohol or a soft drink.

For an up-to-date calendar of local events, check out www.wairarapanz.com web site.

This winter, prepare for Fire and Ice, when the happiest festival in New Zealand returns to Greytown from 29 June - 27 July 2024.

Yes, the best little festival in New Zealand is back this winter, and it’s set to warm the cockles of your heart once again with a month long programme of spectacular lights, workshops, events, activities, Night Markets, parties, festive food, mulled wine and gin. 

The festival is an annual tradition, where our community comes together to put on a mid-winter Christmas experience for all New Zealanders to enjoy. We’re bringing back some of the firm favourites - is that snow in the air? - alongside some exciting new events and activities. You simply won’t want to miss it.  

Don your Christmas jerseys, gather with your friends and whanau around the outdoor braziers, and be part of the month long celebrations. It’s going to be the perfect place to have fun and make special memories.

Click here to see the month long programme

Book now for this wonderful festival - www.oakestate.co.nz