Saturday, 21 February 2026, 12-6pm
Mahy Reserve, Ōhope
Winner of NZEA Community or Not-for-Profit Event (under 3000 particpants) 2025
The Local Wild Food Festival is one of the Eastern Bay of Plenty’s most iconic events, celebrating abundant food found in our diverse natural environment.
Want to be apart of the wild food pack? Click here to get involved
Showcasing food from the land, rivers, lakes and sea, the festival brings together resourceful people passionate about sustainable living. You won’t find anything too wild or whacky at our wild food festival – just good food foraged, grown, caught or hunted from our environment.
Join us for a day of wild food tastings, demonstrations, cooking challenges and live music set amongst ancient Pohutukawa, overlooking the Best Beach in Aotearoa.
Join in on the popular Individual Cooking Challenge or Mystery Box team event. Source, Harvest, Prepare and Enter your dish our Individual Cooking Challenge to hopefully winning something exciting from the prize table! To enter the Mystery Box team event, grab your workmates, friends or whānau groups to get a chance to cook the best dish using our on site kitchens. Various secret ingredients hidden away until the last moment.
Tickets on 1 December 2025! Sign up for updates here
Music acts to be annonced!
Chefs, hunter, butchers and foodies will work their culinary magic using locally source wild produce including seafood, venison, goat, possum, kawakawa, puha, and so much more!
Savour complimentary tastings of locally inspired delights.
Programme and vendor list coming soon...
Enjoy a diverse selection of local beverages from some of the region’s finest producers - Mata Beer, The Comm, Herringbone Wine and Dabblers Gin.
For those seeking alcohol-free alternatives, Wai Mānuka and Dr Bucha Living Drinks deliver crisp, revitalising options crafted with care.
Join us from midday, Saturday 21 February.
Limited parking at the site, the BayHopper bus will be travelling to and from Whakatāne township on the day. See the timetable here.
Tickets on sale 1st December.
Make the festival a weekend away and check out our top things to do while you are in town and our favourite summer activities.
We have been lucky enough to have been crowned NZ's best and most loved beach, and NZ's best large town.
A huge thank you to our partners and sponsors.
Our annual festival wouldn't be possible without this support.