Here are the nominees for Best Wellington-based Event

There are always so many things happening in our city that we rely rather heavily on our Google Calendar to keep it all straight in our heads. These events, however, are always on our minds, because this is the stuff that legends are made of.

Webstock 2008
For those of us who are internetly inclined, Webstock is a week of completely awesome mind expansion. The fabulous crew bring together the best speakers from around the world, and put on one a hell of a fantastic show. Clever small details like the bag, the programme design, the endless coffee and ice cream; as well the opportunity to meet fantastic people, learn so much and drink the town dry afterwards means that the conference lives on in legend long after it’s over for the year. And now luckily there’s only about 90-something sleeps to go until the next one.

World of Wearable Arts
Sure, it started in Nelson, but Wellington seems to have happily adopted this event all for ourselves. We certainly enjoyed our night out at the show, and anything that gets our local shopkeepers into decorating their windows is always a winner.

The Downtown Community Ministry Book Fair
What is more wonderful than a weekend spent at the Events Centre not watching sport? The DCM Book Fair is a treasure trove of rare and not-so-rare books, and a few other bits and pieces like vinyl and jigsaws. From humble beginnings it has grown bigger and better – with stock of over 60,000 books it is one of the biggest and most efficient book fairs in the country. The success of the Book Fair has raised thousands of valuable dollars towards DCM’s work with those who struggle in the city. Plus when you leave the fair with armfuls of books at bargain prices, you’ve helped make Wellington a more just and happy place to be.

Rugby Sevens
It happens every year and every year we enjoy sitting on the balcony of the Wellingtonista Towers and watching the parade of costumes go by. The atmosphere of revellers heading their way towards the Cake Tin makes for a great diversion from that horrible ‘work’ thing. Plus the whole rugby thing is rather jolly and loads of fun… not that we’ve ever been.

Homegrown
Catering to every musical taste can be an easy thing for a music promoter with enough money and room. But doing so on the Wellington waterfront and only using local talent, well, that’s a bit harder. But not so for Homegrown. The day-long NZ music festival sold out weeks beforehand and was so successful that it’s back for 2009 (and the 2009 line-up is looking pretty good, even without Shihad).