The next Newtown Festival will be on Sunday March 2nd 2025 

Stall applications for 2025 will open before the end of July. Sign up to our Stallholders’ Newsletter (see below) and you will get notified when the applications open.

Please email newtownfestival@gmail.com with any questions.

If you are new to our Festival and interested in being a stallholder we advise you to look through the information below. You might also want to look at the pages on stall locations, pricing, and food stall requirements. You can sign up for the Stallholders’ Newsletter if you’re not already on the mailing list, and then you will receive reminders about key dates and any other Festival news. Please note – if you have a gmail address the Newsletter might go into the Promotions mailbox, so please keep an eye on this.

Information for Stallholders:

People new to Newtown Festival often have questions about how the Festival day is organised, eg timing for stall set up, trading hours etc – scroll down to ‘Runsheet Info for Stallholders’ for answers to these questions.

Stall Site prices:  Like everyone, Newtown Festival has been hit with ever rising costs. To try and help our stallholders thrive we have decided to keep the stall site costs as they have been since 2020, but to manage this we are no longer offering a discounted early bird rate.  Also, for the first time in 26 years there is a slight increase in the concession price for community group information stalls.

Applying and paying early is very important: Those of you who pay earliest are most likely to get your preferred stall site.  Payment by instalments can be arranged if you need this.  If the instalments are paid regularly then the date of the first payment will count for priority purposes.  Book early and email our stalls team if you need to arrange paying in instalments over the next 4 months.

Returning stallholders who want to have the same site as last year need to apply and pay as soon as possible, definitely before October 31st.   Every year we give regular returning stall holders priority for their previous site location, if they want this.  Sometimes this is not possible when the stall site is in front of a local Newtown retailer who now wants to have a stall outside their premises.  When this happens, we look for a site close by, to help your regular customers find you at the Festival.  For 2025 if you want to return to your last year’s site you need to let us know before the end of October.  After October your preferred site will be allocated to a stallholder who has booked and paid early.

Remember that we can offer discounts for people running fundraising stalls for a good cause: We are also sympathetic to approaches from local artists and crafts people concerned about not being able to afford a stall.  Make your stall booking online and also email the stalls team explaining what you would like to do, and we will be in touch to discuss how much we can help

Accepting applications: We have some criteria we consider before accepting stall applications. For stalls other than food and information stalls we will give priority to people selling quality goods – for instance New Zealand handcrafts, New Zealand designed and made homewares, fashion, jewellery and other products, and quality goods sourced from overseas – particularly handcrafts rather than mass produced products. We will not be accepting applications for stalls selling multi-level marketing products such as Arbonne or Doterra Essential Oils, even though we have had these stalls in the past. We are also interested in sustainability, including limiting the use of plastic. When you answer the question about ‘Stall Description’ please give us enough information to understand how your stall meets these criteria. When we receive your application we will check the information and if we are uncertain we will get back to you with further questions.  

Some people make multiple stall bookings, and we will hesitate before accepting all of these. Decisions are made case by case, but the principle is to make room for a wide range of vendors rather than having fewer vendors with two or more stalls each.

When you receive an invoice for your stall booking this will mean that your application is accepted.   

The Council Food Safety Form is part of the booking application: We need to register all stalls selling food or beverages with the Environmental Health Department of Wellington City Council. The safe food handling details you provide us with and your information about waste minimisation are able to be read online by the City Council Officers. When you submit your booking application Google Forms emails you a copy of the form with your answers. If you need to make changes to your menu, or how you plan to prepare or serve the food or drinks the email reply has an “Edit response” button that gives you the option submit updates to your answers.  If you need any help with filling in the Food and Beverage Stalls part of the form please contact us.

Terms & Conditions

When you complete the booking application you will be asked to confirm that you accept the Festival Terms and Conditions – please read them!

Newtown Festival happens rain or shine, there are no refunds for weather.

8.30am/9.00am – 5.00pm, with a few exceptions in food stall precincts: Emmett St stalls can trade till 6pm,  Newtown Avenue until 7pm,  Gordon Place until 8pm, Wilson Street until 8.30pm.

Stall Site Info Packs

Site Info Pack Emails are sent out in mid-February to all stallholders who have paid for their bookings.  The Site Pack Email has an attachment that shows exactly where your stall site is and your nearest recycling station. The email has instructions particular to your part of the Festival. The attachment includes a copy of our Road Closure and One-way Festival Bypass map marked up to show you the ONLY vehicle ENTRY to the Festival at set-up, and your correct EXIT after set-up.  Your EXIT is colour coded and this is the only ENTRY you will be allowed to come back in at the end of the day.

Stall Set Up from 6.30am

The ONLY vehicle ENTRY to the Festival is at Constable Street. The road closes at 5am. Stallholder access for set-up is from 6.30am. Inside the closed road at Constable St the Festival Site Marshals check your Site Info Email, give you the correct coloured EXIT-ENTRY card to display on your vehicle dashboard, and then direct you to your site.

Traffic flow on site is ONE-WAY    Once at your stall site please unpack as quickly as possible and move your vehicle as soon as you can, to minimise congestion. After set up please drive carefully to your correct coloured EXIT.  ALL vehicles must be off the site by 8.30am  –  there is no parking next to your stall.

THERE IS NO ON STREET PARKING anywhere inside the Festival, parts of the road not marked as stall sites will be being used for other Festival activities or performances.

Near, and even inside, the Festival, there are several community groups fundraising, offering stallholder all-day off street carparking for a fee. We will let you know the 2025 parking arrangements when we send your Stall Site Info Pack in mid-February.

In the morning you need to turn up on time, rain or shine. If something happens and you are delayed let us know whether you are still coming – or not!

If your STALL SITE is empty at 8.30am we might move another stallholder in.        

Stall Pack Up from 5pm

The stall market ends at 5pm in Riddiford, Constable, Rintoul and Normanby Streets . To ease pack-out congestion several side street locations run later.

Come back in where your coloured EXIT-ENTRY CARD allows you to = where you went out in the morning. Our Site Marshal crew on the entrances need to see the coloured card on your dashboard.  Festival Marshals and our Stall Holder Car Parade dancers WALK YOUR VEHICLE back to your stall. Because of the public crowd on site each vehicle is slowly escorted by a walker or a dancer. This process begins at 5.15pm, but for safety’s sake this is slow moving back in through the crowds. Narrow streets full of stalls, people and other stall vehicles mean sometimes you will have to stop and wait. Expect at times to be stuck in a queue within the Festival.

It is very important that stalls stop trading at 5pm so the crowds begin to disperse.

When you are packed and ready to leave the Marshal crew escort WALK YOU to the nearest exit

We look forward to seeing you on Sunday 2 March 2025

If you have any  questions, please feel free to contact us