If doing the Stanthorpe Apple and Grape Harvest Festival is on your wish-list, here’s everything to know about how to do the festival’s must-do event, the Queensland Country Bank Food & Wine Fiesta.
How would we sum it up? It’s the central meeting point of the festival, laid back, chilling out under the trees, affordable, family-friendly and of course full of food, wine and festival vibes.
Use it as an opportunity to re-connect with friends, see you there 1 – 3 March 2022 and read on to learn what fun is ahead…
Where and When to Find the Fiesta Fun
The Queensland Country Bank Food & Wine Fiesta is the hot spot to hang out on the main weekend (the second weekend) of the Stanthorpe Apple & Grape Harvest Festival. Settle in for a day of delicious tastes and music that continues into the cool summer night.
Friday 1 March 2024: 5pm to 10pm
Saturday 2 March 2024: 9am to 10pm
Sunday 3 March 2024: 9am to 6.30pm
Location: Weeroona Park, corner of Lock and Marsh Street, Stanthorpe.
Parking: There are plenty of side streets nearby to find a spot to park.
Fiesta Fun: What to Expect
- Live music: non-stop entertainers on stage to set the happy vibes and get you up dancing.
- Roving entertainers throughout the park.
- Granite Belt wineries pouring their wines for you.
- Granite Belt breweries pouring their locally crafted brews.
- Food and market stalls inside the Fiesta and even more spilling out into the streets of the free carnival in the street adjoining the Fiesta (on Saturday and Sunday).
There’s a whole program of Fiesta fun for the kids too (check out more about kids fun below).
Wine & Beer: Poured by the Local Makers
With the Granite Belt Wine Region boasting more than 30 cellar doors, it’s hard to know even where to start on the wine tasting journey. We’ve made it easy, bringing a selection of some of the most exciting and respected wineries all to the one spot, inside the Queensland Country Bank Food & Wine Fiesta.
Our wineries are smaller, boutique-sized on the Granite Belt, so it’s often the winemaker or vigneron themselves who are pouring your glass. It doesn’t get more authentic than each glass delivered with the story behind the wine from the hands that crafted it too.
If a cold brew is what you’re chasing, local craft brewers will be in the park. Get talking to the brewers and get a taste straight from the tap.
List of Granite Belt Wineries at the Fiesta
Here’s a list of who was in our Fiesta in 2022. Stay tuned for updates about 2024!
Balancing Heart Vineyard
Ballandean Estate
Golden Grove Estate
Granite Ridge Wines
Heritage Estate Winery
Hidden Creek Winery
Jester Hill Wines
Just Red Wines
Kominos Wines
Ravenscroft Wines
Ridgemill Estate
Robert Channon Wines
Symphony Hill Wines
Twisted Gum Wines
List of Local Breweries at the Fiesta
Here’s a list of who was in our Fiesta in 2022. Stay tuned for updates about 2024!
Brass Monkey Brewhouse
Granite Belt Brewery
Also… Cider from Sutton’s Juice Factory, Cidery & Farm Cafe
Food at the Fiesta
There’s lots of food vendors within the Fiesta, so no need to walk far from your spot in the park to grab a delicious meal.
Must Have: Grab a Festival Picnic ‘Glass’
Our hot tip? Buy a $5 festival picnic ‘glass’ at the Fiesta entry gates. They’re easy to hold, a great size for the wine pours you’ll be enjoying from the many wineries and they are durable enough to be reusable afterwards. These plastic glasses are suitable for re-use and dishwasher safe, but if used regularly, they are not designed to last for years of use.
On the Menu: Tasting the Festival
A feast will be laid out before you, with a host of food stall holders set up in the park for the duration of the Fiesta. Expect an eclectic mix of tastes from across the globe.
If you’re settling in for the whole day, why not grab some locally produced antipasto goodies in the Market in the Mountains (right next door to the Fiesta inside the Civic Centre) and have a Granite Belt gourmet picnic grazing feast. You don’t have to look far to stock up on locally made artisan foods. If you’re travelling from the north consider dropping into the deli at Vincenzo’s at the Big Apple or from the south check out Jamworks Gourmet Foods Cafe & Larder.
Happy Days for Fiesta Kids
Woolworths has partnered with the Festival to deliver the Kids Zone, inside the Queensland Country Bank Food & Wine Fiesta. There will be activities for primary school aged children, including jumping castle, balloon artist, face painting, puppet show, stage entertainment and more.
A schedule of the festival kids program will be published in the festival program.
P.S. Kids under 18 years enter the Fiesta (and all the fun of Kids Zone) FREE!
What to Bring
There are lots of plastic picnic chairs and some tables inside the Fiesta grounds, spread out across the shady park. Savvy festival goers who have been before will often arrive early in the day to set up their spot and settle in for the day. You are welcome to bring a picnic blanket, your own chairs and even your own marquee (just make sure it’s able to be weighted down for safety).
Looking for a car park?
You can find plenty of on-street car parks in the surrounding blocks of the Fiesta.
There is also a CBD carpark two blocks from the Fiesta at the corner of Roberts Street and Fromes Lane.
Fiesta Tickets
Friday night entry: $TBC Adult
Saturday entry: $TBC Adult
Sunday entry: $TBC Adult
You’ll receive a wristband on entry which will also be your pass out. This will give you unlimited access to come and go from the Fiesta to also check out all the fun in the streets and markets nearby.
Tickets will also be available at the gate, but we encourage pre-purchase of tickets to avoid line-ups at the gate.
Is the Fiesta Dog Friendly?
Sorry dogs aren’t able to enter Weeroona Park for the Queensland Country Bank Food & Wine Fiesta. Dogs are welcome in all the areas surrounding the Fiesta, along the streets of Stanthorpe to watch the Channel 7 Grand Parade, the Celebrity Grape Crush Championships and the Carnival entertainment and stalls.
Thank you Queensland Country Bank for sponsoring all the fun of the Fiesta!
Major Sponsors
