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Otago Daily Times
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Otago Daily Times
Serving up breakfast with a side of live music
There will be music in the air all around town at Bayleys Tussock Country this weekend, starting with a helping of live entertainment each morning from a Main St cafe. Table Talk co-owner Sandeep Kaur is encouraging locals to come and grab a seat to enjoy the music alongside their coffee. She said they hosted a private event with live music during last year's festival, which was "just amazing". She took over the cafe with her husband in 2023 and said for a year they were living in Invercargill and driving up every morning to work at the cafe. The family have since moved to Gore and their work-life is much more relaxing, she said, with only a two-minute commute. In past years, she said she could see the excitement in people during the festival. "This year, we are actually experiencing that excitement," she said. Festival event co-ordinator Annabel Roy said the live entertainment on offer at Table Talk this weekend would be solo and duo performers, which was perfect for a cafe. One of the artists playing is Molly Harrison, 16, from Ashburton, who will also perform at the Rising Stars of Country Music on Wednesday night at the RSA. The cafe entertainment begins on Friday with the Gorgeous Country Breakfast, tickets for which are already sold out. From 8am on Saturday, live music will be available with breakfast, as well as next day. Molly will be playing at a lunchtime slot on Sunday from noon and there will be another musical breakfast on Monday. Mrs Kaur said she did not know what to expect but imagined it would be a fantastic experience.
Otago Daily Times
23-05-2025
- Business
- Otago Daily Times
Distillery's single malt claims double gold
Cardrona Distillery. PHOTO: SUPPLIED Cardrona Distillery's single malt whisky, The Falcon, has won a double gold medal, with a score of 95 points, at the 2025 San Francisco World Spirits Competition. It is the only New Zealand whisky to achieve double gold so far this year. The competition is the oldest and largest of its kind and is renowned for setting the industry standard of excellence. A double gold medal is awarded only to spirits that receive unanimous gold ratings from all judges in a blind tasting, placing The Falcon among the world's top single-malt whiskies. According to Cardrona Distillery, The Falcon has notes of burnt toffee, vanilla cream, pepper and sun-scorched nectarine. As well as the latest award, The Falcon was awarded two gold medals in two categories at last year's World Whiskies Awards — New Zealand's best small batch single malt and New Zealand's best single malt 12 years and under. It also received a five-star review from Yvonne Lorkin and 95 points from master sommelier Cameron Douglas. The Cardrona Distillery opened in 2015.
Otago Daily Times
21-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Otago Daily Times
Crochet creative's work wows at show
With her crocheted Advent Dragon at the Creative Fibre Exhibition in Christchurch last Month is Tessa Ayers. PHOTO: SUPPLIED A crocheted dragon stitched by a self-taught Gore teenager made its way to an exclusive national fibre exhibition last month. Gore's own Tessa Ayers said the Creative Fibre National Exhibition was quite hard to get into and organisers were strict on who they let in. Despite this, 18-year-old Ms Ayers, who has be crocheting since she was 7, entered the competition with one of her creations which took her about four months to finish. The roughly basketball-sized dragon shown in Christchurch last month was made using patterns from Craft Intentions and pre-dyed wool, although often Ms Ayers dyes the wool herself, she said. "I love dyeing the colours and coming up with different combinations," she said. The artist's mother Sue Scobie said there have been fibre arts such as spinning, dying wool and knitting in the house since her daughter was small. She took Ms Ayers to her first felting class when she was just 4 years old. Ms Scobie said she would like to take credit for her daughter's crocheting talents, which had far surpassed her own, but her daughter was self-taught using books and videos. e crafty teenager said she never sought financial gain with her creations and liked to keep it as hobby that she enjoyed and that helped her relax. "It's like my wind down at the end of the day," she said. The 18-year-old had been branching out into clothing items more recently and was working on a pair of fingerless gloves. Crocheting toys were her real "love" however, making lots of dragons, ponies, phoenixes and all sorts of mythical creatures. She said she liked all the more fantastical creatures as she did not have to stick to strict colour stories, the mythical animals being whatever "magical" colour she fancied. She spent a lot of time making toys, she said, which she sometimes gives to her 8-year-old sister. "Mostly, I just make them for myself, because I want to," she said. The young Gore local is headed off to be a camp counsellor in the United States, skipping the encroaching Southland winter. She is yet to teach others her fibre skills but maybe some campers will be her first students, she said.
Otago Daily Times
21-05-2025
- Business
- Otago Daily Times
Cheese rolls fly off the shelves at fundraiser
The St Andrews Fair was a great success for the Church, with the cheese rolls in particular flying off the shelf and leaving organisers wondering just what the upper limit for the savoury treat is. PHOTO: GERRIT DOPPENBERG The St Andrews Fair was a runaway success, raising $500 more than last year and do not ask for any leftover cheese rolls because they sold like hot cheese rolls. The fair's success brings the fundraising total to $5167 for the church, with plenty of people coming through last Saturday. Convener Margaret Martyn was complimentary of all the fair had to offer, with baking, plants and of course the white elephant section making a splash once again. But by far, the runaway success story of the fair were the cheese rolls, as Ms Martyn said they flew off the shelves. "The cheese rolls are the most popular. "The girl who makes them had 37 dozen there, which were sold in 15 minutes. "We sold $2432 worth of cheese rolls over the year," she said. It took only a quarter of an hour to sell all the cheese rolls, which had Ms Martyn wondering just how hungry for cheese rolls Gore is. "It's just becoming more and more popular every year, we could have sold twice as many. "She thought she would have had enough this time but she didn't," she said. Despite how busy the sale was, the organisers managed to shut up shop at around 12.30pm, with a good tally in their pockets.
Otago Daily Times
21-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Otago Daily Times
Hands of Fame now steel-clad, ready for festival
The refurbished Hands of Fame statue arrived in Gore just in time for Bayleys Tussock Country music festival this weekend. PHOTO: ELLA SCOTT-FLEMING Gore's country music honouring Hands of Fame statue has had a makeover and is back looking shiny and new, just in time for Bayleys Tussock Country music festival this weekend. The 7.5m Hands of Fame statue, erected by the Gore Country Music Club, was re-installed on Tuesday morning, much to the relief of club president Julie Mitchell. She said the new, improved statue was supposed to be done by the end of April and as the Tussock Country music festival crept closer and closer she was beginning to get nervous. The new, steel-clad statue was worth the wait, she said, and she hoped it would now stand tall for another 20 years. When the statue was removed for refurbishment back in March, Gold Guitar Awards convener Phillip Geary said the grouting on tile-covered statue was cracking, letting in water that was freezing during the Southland winter. This process caused quite a few of the tiles to become dislodged, he said. The tiles were removed by Custom Build and replaced with a metal facade. The paint work on the steel was done by Beatties Collision Repair Centre in Gore. Mrs Mitchell said the makeover cost of about $30,000 was paid for by the club in anticipation of this years' festival and the Gold Guitars. It is anticipated that the awards and the festival this year will attract more visitors to Gore than any previous year. The statue was erected by the club in 2004, to honour those who have made significant contribution to New Zealand country music.
