Queensland, Australia: Outdoor Movies in the Park for Summerdaze Festival

Six months of work will come to fruition for a small team of hard workers tomorrow when the month-long Summerdaze festival kicks off in Queenstown and Wanaka.

Beginning on New Year's Eve with a fireworks display and concert in both centres, the festival also boasts outdoor movies, Shakespearian plays and sporting events.

Queenstown Lakes District Council arts and events facilitator Jan Maxwell said the planning for the event began six months ago with funding applications and band bookings.

Event promotion company eveNZ had been contracted to help with the planning and had done a fantastic job, she said.

A new event this year, "Shakespeare on Location", involved a guided tour around Queenstown Park at night while actors from the Remarkables Theatre performed some of the playwright's most famous works, she said. "I'm quite excited because it's new this year so I hope people will come out and enjoy it ... and it's free which makes it even better," she said.

Planning such a large series of events was a busy time for the small team but seeing how much everyone enjoyed it made it worth it, she said.

"It's full-on but everyone is just so good at supporting it so I think that takes a lot of stress out of it."

eveNZ festival co-ordinator Nicole Fairweather said everything had come together perfectly before Christmas and the signature event tomorrow would be awesome.

The outdoor movies beginning in Wanaka on Saturday would also be great and are expected to attract a large crowd, she said.

Highlight events include: Wanaka Rodeo on Saturday and the Queenstown Violin School from January 10 to 22.

Shane Cowlishaw

source-http://www.stuff.co.nz/southland-times/features/arts-entertainment/3199592/Bard-in-the-Park-for-festival