After the rush of pre-Christ­mas shop­ping when it’s all about every­one else and the right present for the right per­son and being love­ly and self­less, it’s rather nice when sum­mer fair sea­son rolls around. Sum­mer fairs are not just about shop­ping for thing for oth­er peo­ple, although that is an excel­lent and impor­tant com­po­nent to every good fair. Sum­mers fairs are about loads of love­ly food, things to divert the atten­tion of small peo­ple and bands of all shapes and sizes. Sum­mer fairs are more often as not fundrais­ing fairs, which means going to them is help­ing make the world a bet­ter place.

Kick­ing of the sum­mer fair sea­son is Eat Drink Be Crafty this Sat­ur­day Jan­u­ary 28, Bat­tle Hill Farm For­est Park, Paekakari­ki Hill Rd, 10am ‑4pm. Last year was its debut and it went off like a rock­et. This year they’ve tweaked the for­mu­la a lit­tle more with even more gourmet food and wine, craft stalls and things for small peo­ple. Last year park­ing and traf­fic was a bit of an issue and while they’ve resolved that for 2012, my sug­ges­tion is to arrive ear­ly so you can get a jump on all the yum­my noms.