Grape times ahead

A ‘grape time’ ahead is planned for the Granite Belt region, with the release of the program for the Stanthorpe Apple and Grape Harvest Festival.

Literally ‘crushing it’ since 1966, the festival has just released a 10-day program of apple and grape harvest celebrations from 25 February to 6 March 2022, coinciding with Stanthorpe’s 150 year celebration.

Stanthorpe’s apple and grape harvest is looking promising, with plenty of rain throughout 2021 and the forecast for attendance looking good.

The festival expects to welcome 70,000+ visitors to celebrate the region’s bounty.

Tourism has only been growing in Stanthorpe, with the region attracting record-breaking visitor numbers in the second half of 2020 and through 2021.

“We are keen to welcome interstate visitors back to Stanthorpe and what better way to kick off their Queensland holiday than to kick off their shoes and sink them into a barrel of grapes at our grape stomping,” said Festival President, Mr Russell Wantling.

“We are taking registrations now for our community grape stomping and everyone is welcome to join in. It’s the Italian community we have to thank for introducing grape growing to Stanthorpe and many years on, it’s our Italian community cueing the Italian music and clapping on visitors in the grape stomp,” said Mr Wantling.

“Our Celebrity Grape Crushing Championships is always a riot of fun, with the antics of celebrities and politicians always descending into a chaos of juicy mess and there’s a special reason for some of our celebrities to be in Stanthorpe. We’re marking 150 years of Stanthorpe in 2022 and some of the celebrities we’re welcoming back are former Stanthorpe residents, including former International cricketer, Stanthorpe born Greg Ritchie,” Mr Wantling revealed.

Delicious highlights of the 10-day program include chef demonstrations, orchard tours, hotly contested apple peeling and apple pie competitions and the Queensland Country Bank Food and Wine Fiesta. The Food and Wine Fiesta brings together the Granite Belt’s gourmet foods, award-winning wines and craft beer all to one location under the shady trees and picnic tables, all to the tunes of non-stop live entertainment.

The party-filled atmosphere will spill out into the streets on the big finale weekend from 4 to 6 March, with crowds gathered for the must-see Grand Parade, grape crushing fun and the Rebel Breeze FM Street Carnival.

The first weekend of the 10-day festival will see emerging young stars join seasoned buskers as they gather in Stanthorpe for the South East Qld Finals of the Australian National Busking Championships.

Crowds are also guaranteed for Sunday’s Banchetto Italiano (Italian Long Lunch) which celebrates Stanthorpe’s Italian heritage, an event which is sure to sell out.

Stanthorpe Apple and Grape Harvest Festival is supported by the Queensland Government through Tourism and Events Queensland and features on the It’s Live! in Queensland events calendar.

The festival also secured federal funding for the Food and Wine Fiesta, through Round 22 of the Foundation for Rural & Regional Renewal’s Tackling Tough Times Together program.

The event is receiving $20,000 in funding.

Mr Wantling stated that these funds will go towards quality entertainment in the park.

“We’ll use that money to make sure that we have a great experience at the three day festival in the park,” he said.

“This money allows us to also highlight local entertainment on the Friday night which is something the Apple and Grape Festival has wanted to do for a long time.”

Federal Member for Maranoa, David Littleproud said the festival will use their grant “to engage artists to provide entertainment and workshops at the Food and Wine Fiesta on the main weekend of the 2022 Apple and Grape Festival”.

“New to the festival will be the Street Science stage show with passionate science communicators mixing humour, exciting demonstrations and quality scientific explanations into an interactive science experience to be enjoyed by all ages.”

For festival tickets, program and accommodation visit www.appleandgrape.org