Wildfoods Tickets Hotter Than Curried Pigs’ Tongue

MEDIA RELEASE
March 5, 2004

Wildfoods Tickets Hotter Than Curried Pigs’ Tongue

The annual Hokitika Wildfoods Festival is still a week away and tickets are proving to be hotter than one of this year’s new dishes, curried pigs’ tongue, says festival organiser, Mike Keenan.

Keenan says that with less than 2,000 tickets left of the 18,000 on sale through Postie Plus stores and the Westland District Council office, “the sold out signs will most likely be rushed out on Monday.”

“The big problem will be those people travelling who expect gate sales on the day and the locals who always leave purchase to the last minute – sadly, even a gold nugget the size of the famous Big Roddy or a keg of Monteith’s best won’t be accepted as a bribe for tickets.

“Our committee has set a limit this year and we are sticking to it with religious fervour, in order to protect the welfare of patrons as well as Hokitika’s infrastructure.”

Keenan believes the interest this year is greater than ever with added attractions and new dishes set to test the most hardy of dare devil gormandisers who think they’ve been there, done that and then swallowed it.

Several television crews are arriving, some from as far away as Korea on a “believe it or not” mission of sampling fifteen new dishes at the fifteenth festival including magpie pie, marinated hare testicles, bull semen shooters, jellied fish eyes and stuffed seaweed.

“A new initiative is Friday night’s Feral Factor Competition where seven Coasters line up for $1,000 cash to graze through some of the wildest dishes imaginable like silage sandwiches, live grasshoppers and hot venison curry with the ever popular tripe sans onions as a tooth sharpener to get them started,” says Keenan.

“The supporting act on Friday night will be an Aussie/Kiwi woodchopping test for veterans, also on Weld Street, where the stars of yesteryear will give you a thirst just watching them – some have more that 50 years chopping and sawing experience and one competitor is 76.”

Keenan says the long range forecast bodes well for next Saturday in Hokitika with the Met Office West Coast outlook tipping rain mid-week followed by a southwest change and northerlies, some showers in the south and temperatures around 18 degrees by Saturday.

ENDS

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