New venue for DNA Gay Ski Week Queenstown’s dance party

July 25 2013

New exciting venue for DNA Gay Ski Week Queenstown’s biggest dance party

The 2013 DNA Gay Ski Week QT final dance party is set to be bigger and better than ever thanks to a new venue announced today (Thursday July 25).

The finale of this year’s week-long celebration, the GAYDAR Mystery Dance Party, will now be held at Queenstown’s newest live music venue, Vinyl Underground.

Located on Church Street in the former Subculture venue, organisers have announced that this year’s party will have a ‘Heaven and Hell’ dress-up theme.

The last night dance party is always one of the most popular on the calendar and is usually held at Queenstown’s iconic World Bar. Organisers Sally and Mandy Whitewoods were forced to find an alternative venue when the World Bar tragically burnt down in May this year.

“It’s sad to have to find an alternative venue as the World Bar was so well loved, but the simple fact is that the new home for the World Bar simply can’t cope with the numbers we need,” Mrs Whitewoods said.

“We’ve been searching for the perfect venue for the last few weeks, one that can hold the amount of people we know will attend as well as one that has just the right atmosphere.

“Vinyl Underground isn’t even open yet, so it’ll be great to celebrate the end of a fantastic week of fun at Queenstown’s hottest new live music venue.”

Vinyl Underground plans to open to the general public in August and will focus on offering live music, hosting an array of local, national and hopefully international acts.

Known as the Southern Hemisphere’s largest Winter Pride event, hundreds of gay men and women converge on Queenstown between August 31 and September 7 for a week-long celebration of skiing, socialising and evenings full of fun. Mr Gay New Zealand Chris Olwage will be in Queenstown for the week, helping guarantee fun, frivolity and laughter.

“Gay Ski Week QT is firmly established as a ‘must do’ on the national and international gay and lesbian calendar and we’re always looking to make it bigger and better than the year before,” Mrs Whitewoods said.

The programme starts with a bang at the More FM Opening Party at Barmuda on Saturday August 31 and follows up with other highlights such as ‘Get it on! Bingay’ sponsored by the New Zealand Aids Foundation, a take on traditional Bingo with a glamorous host and fabulous prizes up for grabs, and the infamous Karaoke night at SKYCITY Casino with Miss Ribena.

The More FM Gay on The Bay is also back – a competition giving all local businesses the chance to ‘pimp up’ their store or staff to be in the running to win $1,000-worth of radio advertising.

Limited table seats are still available for opening night of the cabaret-style show “La Cage Aux Folles”. This event promises to be a highlight of the week and people are encouraged to bring their best frocks for a night of show business and glamour.

The Broken Shed Casino Royale evening is a ‘smart dress’ event or one where participants are encouraged to dress up in their favourite Bond outfit to stand out from the crowd. The evening starts as it means to go on with a complimentary drink on arrival, before guests are whisked away up the Skyline Gondola for dinner and live entertainment from local band LA Social.

The penultimate night is the ‘Queens on the Lake’ party held aboard the TSS Earnslaw, Queenstown’s iconic Lady of the Lake steamship which will be moored at Steamer Wharf for the evening.

“Tickets are selling fast for this event and it’s shaping up to be an amazing night with music from DJ Haylenise from Melbourne on one floor and a cocktail bar on the other,” said Mrs Whitewoods.

She said ticket sales for all events were already “significantly higher” than in previous years and reminded people to buy tickets early to avoid disappointment.

“We’ll have a limited number of last minute door tickets available for key events, at higher prices than pre-purchased ones, but we encourage people to buy now to ensure they get to enjoy the events they want to,” said Mrs Whitewoods.

“The legalisation of same sex marriage in New Zealand has successfully turned the focus on the gay and lesbian community in a positive way and we’ve definitely seen an increased interest since the bill passed.

“We’re excited as we know there are some people planning on getting married during DNA Gay Ski Week QT and we can’t wait to be a part of it.”

For the first time ever, Sally and Mandy are raising funds for charity, donating six per cent of the accommodation revenue from bookings at Novotel Queenstown to the New Zealand AIDS Foundation (NZAF).

“We thoroughly enjoy organising the event and bringing the gay and lesbian community together. We encourage anyone attending this year’s event to book their accommodation at the Novotel to support this amazing charity,” said Sally.

Tickets are now available from the new Gay Ski Week QT website www.gayskiweekqt.com and up-to-the-minute news can be found online at www.facebook.com/gayskiweekqt.

The DNA Gay Ski Week QT event is proudly supported by DNA magazine, LN Magazine, Broken Shed, SKYCITY Queenstown Casino, KIRRA Holidays, Real Journeys, An Eye for Design, GAYDARgirls.com, Gaydar.com.au, LOTL, curve, More FM Queenstown, Rainbow Warehouse, Nautilus Wines, Cardrona Alpine Resort, puregaynz.com, qguide.com, Novotel Lakeside Queenstown, Tom Tom Productions, Real Journeys, and Veuve Clicquot.

ENDS

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