Winterfest Drive in

Media Release

Friday 30 June 2006

BIG MOVIES AND PHAT MOVES

Capacity audiences of 90 packed cars turned up for each movie showing during the first ever Lindauer Queenstown Winter Festival Video Ezy Drive-in last night (Thursday June 29).

The drive-in concept went down a treat with audiences watching fabulous 1950’s flick ‘Grease’ and hit winter movie ‘First Descent’. Audiences tuned in to a local radio station to hear the sound tracks, and despite the cold, some eager moviegoers even left the warmth of their vehicles to boogie on down to ‘Grease’ in front of the big screen.

Conditions were perfect at Coronet Peak as the first ever Stolichnaya Expression Session got underway this afternoon.

A large crowd of about 1500 people watched as some of New Zealand’s best freestyle skiers and boarders laid it down on the rails in an informal ‘jam session.’

Eight members of the paragliding Bollé Acro Team opened the event with an impressive display complete with paragliders descending with red signal smoke streaming behind.

Eight-seven competitors in the jam session hit stairs, rails and big boxes -- cheered on by the crowd and with non-stop commentary from local snowboarding guru Luca Soulos and Coronet Peak Youth Action Sports Co-ordinator Josh Clark.

Hot male competitors included Nick Brown, Jeremy Thorns and Chance Jensen, while the hot performer among the females was Callie Conaghan.

Throughout the comp, New Zealand freestyle bar flair champion Lisandro Walfisch gave cocktail demonstrations at the Stolli Bar on the main stage, while grafitti artist Tim Rihhi worked on a display piece, fire dancers thrilled crowds on the Coronet Peak sundeck, and awesome beats from a live DJ pumped up the atmosphere.

As darkness fell the crowds grew – keen to see the best skiers and boarders to make it through to a one-hour finals session starting at 6pm.

The Lindauer Queenstown Winter Festival is home of the Southern Hemisphere's ultimate winter celebration and runs from June 23 to July 2.

The festival continues this weekend (July 1 and 2) with Coronet Peak’s Family Mountain Carnival featuring the Browns/Volkl Dash for Cash, the always hilarious Suitcase Race and the Family Mountain Challenge. Saturday night events include the Lindauer Jazz Night and more hockey action as Southern Stampede challenge West Auckland Admirals. The INCA half pipe is at Coronet Peak on Sunday, followed by the Trustpower and Queenstown Rotary Duck Race in Horne Creek on Queenstown’s village green.

For further media information or images please contact:

Mary Todd

Media Liaison

Phone: 03 441 2453 or 027 477 9394

Email: mary@winterfestival.co.nz