Festival History

The Devonport Food, Wine and Music Festival started in 1990 as a community fund raising project of the Rotary Club of Devonport. Initially the event was a free festival with monies raised through selling to attendees a festival glass from which they would be able to purchase and drink their wine. The 1990's saw the festival experience a peak in its fundraising with numbers attending regularly exceeding 12,000 over the two days. Many a Rotarian and patron will remember the times of celebrating the fine wine and food while sitting down to leisurely enjoying a local jazz band or music group.

However over the years costs increased, and sponsorship became harder to source and regulatory changes forced the organizers to fence Windsor Reserve and look to charge a door price. The changing leisure and entertainment market in Auckland also impacted on the festival, in a positive way, with higher quality music acts both local and international becoming a regular feature of the festival.

Since 2010 the festival was run under the ownership and management of B3 Events Limited (B3). The management of B3 are local Devonport residents and members of Rotary who have in the past been involved in the organizing and running of the festival. B3 looks to continue the festival with its focus on providing great entertainment, wine and food while raising funds for the Rotary Club of Devonport Charitable Trust.