With young families, businesses of their own, and more than enough on the to-do list already, Abby France and Catherine Batterson decided to add one more hat to the mix, and at the end of last year started their own fete. We talk to the vibrant duo about what inspires them and what we can expect to see at this year’s Hanmer Springs Fete.



What inspired you to start your own fete?

We first met at Lincoln University what feels like a 100 years ago, when we were undergraduates studying Events Management and Marketing. While we both went on to start our own small businesses [Abby, The NZ Crate Company and Catherine, Over The Ditch] we know what challenges there are to get your products in front of consumers. So with our backgrounds and our own experience as stallholders at some of the other wonderful fetes around New Zealand, we thought why not!

What sets your fete apart from others?

Location, location, location! Hanmer Springs has everything you could possibly want all wrapped up in one package. It is also a location about much more than just a day trip to the fete. It has everything from the pools, massages, mountain biking, bush walks, pink gins and amazing retail therapy, so something for the whole family to enjoy.



The Queen Mary Hospital grounds are so rich in history and their amazing location provides the perfect backdrop to showcase a carefully curated list of small artisan New Zealand businesses.

Tell us about the behind-the-scenes action leading into the fete. 

We are it! We juggle young families and own small businesses around fete preparations. The week leading up to it doesn’t include a lot of sleep, but lots of coffee and endless hours spent onsite and on the phone.

We endeavour to pay attention to the small details as well as the big ticket items to ensure a smoothly-run event for both stallholders and visitors.

We are also eternally grateful to our incredible family, friends and amazing Hanmer Springs locals who help us make it all happen! 

Keep smiling, it’ll all work out in the end, and make sure someone knows where the spare rubbish bags are! We couldn’t be happier with how 2019 went and 2020 is set to be even better!

What was the best part of seeing your vision come to fruition?

Seeing the joy and excitement on our visitors’ faces was amazing and hearing the incredible feedback was so humbling. It was a beautiful day which helped, but we are so grateful to each and every stallholder and visitor who attended.

This year we have an incredible array of local stallholders. There are some familiar faces as well as some exciting new exhibitors. We’ve got a great line-up of live music to enjoy under the shade of the trees. Bring your Christmas shopping list as well as your appetite as the food is going to be epic!

We work tirelessly at ensuring only top-quality products are exhibited that we know our visitors are going to love!

Hanmer Springs Fete is happening Friday 30 October – tickets on sale now from hanmerspringsfete.co.nz