10 Sep 2023

Carterton's Daffodil Festival goes ahead without daffodil picking

12:08 pm on 10 September 2023
Spring daffodil.

File photo. Photo: John from Tulsa, USA, Creative Commons

An annual festival held in a small Wairarapa town is going ahead without one of its main attractions.

The Carterton Daffodil Festival was expected to draw in about 10,000 visitors.

But daffodil picking, one of the largest draws for the festival, would not be happening because of recent poor weather.

However, event organiser Jenny Gasson said it wouldn't deter people's spirits.

"The weather hasn't been very kind to us and the daffodils, although they've bloomed, there's not as many as we would like," she said.

"So what we've said is we're restricting picking, but we have got daffodils pre-picked for sale out there."

Gasson said that while the daffodil picking was one of the favourite events, the festival still had plenty more to offer - including great photo opportunities.

Features of the festival also included a heritage passenger steam train trip from Carterton to Masterton and back.

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