The Harbour Street Jazz and Blues Festival 2020 has been cancelled!

Unfortunately due to concerns about public safety surrounding the COVID19 outbreak we have made the decision to pull the plug on this years festival. We look forward to seeing you all next year for a fantastic weekend of jazz and blues..

A Little Bit of Background

In the 1980s Oamaru held an annual jazz festival at the Brydone Hotel over Labour Weekend. It was a big event on jazz musicians’ calendars and they came from all over New Zealand to enjoy the music, camaraderie and opportunities to share their creative talents with other like-minded people and enthusiastic audiences.

In 2012, various jazz musicians were contacting people in Oamaru asking if the town could again host a jazz festival - a festival where the enjoyment of jazz and the spontaneity of musicians jamming together comes first.

After 2 very successful years we decided to incorporate ourselves and are now called Harbour Street Jazz Inc. If you wish to become a member please contact harbourstreetjazz@gmail.com.

Oamaru & Oamaru’s Victorian Precinct is fortunate in that it has a number of venues, as well as Harbour Street itself, which are ideally suited to hosting a weekend festival. The Criterion Hotel, Loan and Mercantile Function Centre, The Penguin Club, Birdlands Wine Co., Star & Garter Restaurant and The Brydone Hotel, and a wonderful new venue - Scotts Brewery along with The Oamaru Whitestone Civic Trust, have all offered their support and practical assistance for the event.

The 2019 event was such a success that we have decided to hold it again. With a huge and talented line up playing each year makes our event destined to be spectacular.
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Check out our photo's from previous years here!