Sarau Festival ’15 – Who’s Who
We’re delighted to welcome more speakers and special guests than ever at this year’s festival. Here’s a brief who’s who of what we have in store.
Those Purple People
Team Sarau Festival
Let’s start with our fabulous team – all those folks in purple T-shirts! That’s us! We do our best to keep the show on the road, and if you need help or have questions, just pull one of us up and have a chat. On a side note – see the chap in the photo who is NOT in purple – this is a retired blackcurrant farmer from Ireland who has come over every year to join us – how cool is that! I reckon we may just give him a T-shirt this year!
MC Emma Helleur
Daytime DJ – The Hits
A very warm welcome to local celebrity, DJ and crazy cat lady Emma Helleur. Nelson born, bread and buttered Emma will be familiar to all listeners of our incredibly supportive local radio station ‘The Hits’. It is our pleasure to welcome Emma as our MC for the day! If you are as avid listeners of The Hits as we are, you’ll know all about Emma and her cat. Not sure that ‘grumpy’ will be making an appearance on the day, but you never know.
Steve Richards
Celebrity Chef – The Jester House
Our celebrity chef spot this year is occupied by local chef Steve Richards of the Jester House Café. Proud winners in the New Zealand Café of the year, the Jester House is an iconic landmark destination, and we are delighted to welcome Steve back to the stage to stir up some Blackcurrant magic.
Claire Dallison
Sports Rehab’ Expert, Trainer, Teacher and Coach
Long time fitness trainer of the Nelson Giants Basketball team, Paralympics Athletic Coach, and manager of the New Zealand Tall Blacks, sports rehabilitation and training expert Claire will be a guest speaker at this year’s festival.
A vibrant and entertaining speaker, Claire has been using Sujon Blackcurrant Powder with elite athletes in performance, muscle recovery, and general health. She will have with her the recent scientific results of research into the voracity of this powder and will share her discoveries and thoughts, as well as answering your questions.
Head Hop Honcho – Doug Donelan
CEO, New Zealand Hops Ltd.
A warm welcome to Doug who will be speaking at Sarau Festival this year. Doug has written numerous papers and articles for brewing journals, technical papers and presentations on the beer industry, brewing and hops. With over 30 years experience in the brewing, beverage and hospitality industries, Doug is an internationally recognised beer judge having served as Chief Judge at the New Zealand International Beer Awards and on the international judging panels for the Brewers Associations (BA) Great American Beer Festival and World Beer Cup, Japan Beer Cup (JBC) and the Australian International Beer Awards (AIBA).
Brooke Bayliss-Browne, Alleyn McGregor and Natalie Potter
Fresh-up, Ribena and G-force :: Frucor Beverages Ltd.
Come and hear Brooke, Alleyn and Natalie of Frucor Beverages telling us all about Stevia! Frucor is the name behind the Ribena Brand, and they have a long history of supporting us here at the Sarau Festival. We’re looking forward to welcoming them to the stage, and learning more about the benefits of this wonder-sweetener!
Olive Oligarch – Jonathan Pine
Neudorf Olives
We welcome Jonathan, of Neudorf Olives. Found high on the hills of Upper Moutere, the Pine family olive grove is home to Neudorf Olives. Three varieties of olives are produced, pressed and bottled on-site into gorgeous extra-virgin olive oil.
Of their thriving small business, Jonathan writes:
“We choose not to blend or flavour our oil, instead we celebrate the unique flavours produced by each variety of olive we grow. We have our own small press and bottle and label on site, which enables us to monitor every stage of production. We find the combination of the Moutere clay soils coupled with high sunshine hours produce very intense flavours – always herbaceous, with a degree of pepperiness and bitterness which are associated with the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties found in quality fresh Extra Virgin Olive Oils. We are open to the public, throughout the summer and by appointment in winter if you would like to learn more about the process of making Extra Virgin Olive Oil.”
Theres and Hannes Krummis
Neudorf Mushrooms
Well known locals Theres and Hannes will be joining us this year to talk about their exploits as ‘those Mushroom people’. Recognised as experts for all things funghi, but especially the delicously yummy Saffron Milk Cap, Theres and Hannes will share a talk with us at the festival on their specialised mycorrhizal wild mushroom business and other things funghi.
Wo/Man of Mystery
Mystery Shopper
Heads up Stall Holders! There’s a mystery shopper doing the rounds of all our stalls this year. He or She will be judging the stalls for the best use of blackcurrant products or blackcurrant themes. Purple Pirate voice – “there be prizes to be had!”.
