One of the 2012 Gay Ski Week parties (Still Vision) Gay Ski Week’s organisers have found a new venue for their closing party, after World Bar was destroyed in a fire. The grand finale of the week of winter fun will now be held at Queenstown’s newest live music venue, Vinyl Underground, and will have a ‘Heaven and Hell’ dress-up theme. The dance party is one of the most popular events and is usually held at World Bar, however Gay Ski Week organisers Sally and Mandy Whitewoods were force to find an alternative when it burnt down in May. "It’s sad to have to find an alternative venue as the World Bar was so well loved, but the simple fact is that the new home for the World Bar simply can’t cope with the numbers we need," Sally Whitewoods says. "We’ve been searching for the perfect venue for the last few weeks, one that can hold the amount of people we know will attend as well as one that has just the right atmosphere. "Vinyl Underground isn’t even open yet, so it’ll be great to celebrate the end of a fantastic week of fun at Queenstown’s hottest new live music venue." Known as the Southern Hemisphere’s largest Winter Pride event, hundreds of gay men and women converge on Queenstown between August 31 and September 7 for a week-long celebration of skiing, socialising and evenings full of fun. Mr Gay New Zealand Chris Olwage will be in Queenstown for the week, helping guarantee fun, frivolity and laughter. "Gay Ski Week QT is firmly established as a ‘must do’ on the national and international gay and lesbian calendar and we’re always looking to make it bigger and better than the year before," Mrs Whitewoods said. The programme starts with the Opening Party at Barmuda on Saturday August 31 and follows up with other highlights such as ‘Get it on! Bingay’, a take on traditional Bingo with a glamorous host and fabulous prizes up for grabs, and the infamous Karaoke night at SKYCITY Casino with Miss Ribena. Gay on The Bay is also back - a competition giving all local businesses the chance to ‘pimp up’ their store or staff to be in the running to win $1,000-worth of More FM advertising. Limited table seats are still available for opening night of the cabaret-style show "La Cage Aux Folles". The Casino Royale evening is a ‘smart dress’ event or one where participants are encouraged to dress up in their favourite Bond outfit to stand out from the crowd. The evening starts as it means to go on with a complimentary drink on arrival, before guests are whisked away up the Skyline Gondola for dinner and live entertainment from local band LA Social. The penultimate night is the ‘Queens on the Lake’ party held aboard the TSS Earnslaw, Queenstown’s iconic Lady of the Lake steamship which will be moored at Steamer Wharf for the evening. "Tickets are selling fast for this event and it’s shaping up to be an amazing night with music from DJ Haylenise from Melbourne on one floor and a cocktail bar on the other," Whitewoods says. She said ticket sales for all events were already "significantly higher" than in previous years and reminded people to buy tickets early to avoid disappointment. "We’ll have a limited number of last minute door tickets available for key events, at higher prices than pre-purchased ones, but we encourage people to buy now to ensure they get to enjoy the events they want to. "The legalisation of same sex marriage in New Zealand has successfully turned the focus on the gay and lesbian community in a positive way and we’ve definitely seen an increased interest since the bill passed. "We’re excited as we know there are some people planning on getting married during DNA Gay Ski Week QT and we can’t wait to be a part of it." The week will also raise funds for charity, with six per cent of the accommodation revenue from bookings at Novotel Queenstown going to the New Zealand AIDS Foundation.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Friday, 26th July 2013 - 10:28am