Holiday alert: Please note that kerbside collections between 25-27 December and 1-3 January will be pushed out a day (even recyclers need a holiday). For more on Rubbish & Recycling in our district, see our dedicated webpage.

Council offices will close at midday Wednesday 24 December 2025 and reopen 8.00am Monday 5 January 2026. For urgent issues, call us on 03 441 0499 (Queenstown) or 03 443 0024 (Wānaka). For non-urgent issues, please us the Snap Send Solve App. We hope you have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

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Tuesday, 23 December 2025

Family-friendly lakefront celebrations for New Year's Eve

It’s nearly time once again for the traditional New Year’s Eve celebrations on the Queenstown and Wānaka lakefronts!

Queenstown New Years Fireworks From Fernhill (1)

It’s nearly time once again for the traditional New Year’s Eve celebrations on the Queenstown and Wānaka lakefronts – all free to enjoy!

Organised by Queenstown Lakes District Council (QLDC) on behalf of locals and visitors, things kick off at 1.00pm in Queenstown and 2.00pm in Wānaka with family-friendly entertainment down at Earnslaw Park and the Dinosaur Park respectively. Then a great line up of bands and DJs in each town will get everyone pumped for spectacular fireworks displays at midnight (a full schedule is included below).

As in previous years, there’ll be safe zones in both towns from 29 December through to the main event thanks to Red Frogs volunteers. These are available for people looking for some time out, water or anyone who might need a bit of TLC.

A number of road closures will be in place near both event areas. Details can be found on our Scheduled Event Road Closures page.

The busy holiday season also offers timely reminder for everyone to look out for each other, enjoy themselves responsibly and be aware of alcohol-free areas around the district. The entire Wānaka and Queenstown CBDs are alcohol-free round-the-clock from 6.00am Christmas Day until 6.00am on 6 January. This is in addition to the alcohol-free areas from 6.00pm-6.00am every day of the year in both CBDs plus Arrowtown, Frankton and Lake Hāwea.

Maps showing all these locations can be found at www.qldc.govt.nz/alcohol-free-areas

QLDC would like to thank local suppliers, its security and traffic management contractors, emergency services and Red Frogs NZ for helping to stage these awesome events.

ENDS|KUA MUTU.

Media contact:

TEL: 03 441 1802.

communications@qldc.govt.nz

FURTHER INFORMATION | Kā pāroko tāpiri:

Full timetables for both events below:

QUEENSTOWN

  • 1.00-5.00pm Family fun at Earnslaw Park including face painting and roaming entertainers.

MAIN STAGE: EARNSLAW PARK

  • 7.30-8.00pm – Fish Pie Four.
  • 8.00-9.30pm – Highland Storm.
  • 9.30-11.00pm – Turtle Funk + special guest Eliott Allemand.
  • 11.00pm-1.00am – CNE.

DJ STAGE: MARINE PARADE

  • MC – Davie Dubs.
  • 9.00-10.30pm – DJ Pops + Riddim Cartel.
  • 10.30pm-midnight – DJ Cuz.
  • Midnight-1.00am – DJ Rasty.

Fireworks at midnight.

WĀNAKA

  • 2.00-4.30pm Family fun at Dinosaur Park including face painting, roaming entertainers and games.

MAIN STAGE: ARDMORE ST LAYBY

  • 8.00-8.30pm – Superficial.
  • 8.30-10.45pm – Wānaka Project.
  • 10.45pm-1.00am – The Mandates.

DJ STAGE: ARDMORE ST LAYBY

  • 9.00-11.00pm – Red Frogs DJs.
  • 11.00pm-1.00am – DJ Jordi.

Fireworks at midnight.