They turned out in their droves in Tuatapere – New Zealand’s self-declared Sausage Capital, to taste this year’s best snarlers and while Alexandra New World’s Thomas Ramage may have taken the popular vote, long-time Tuatapere local Art Diack reckons a good Tuatapere sausage still wins hands down.

Art, as always, was there on Thursday night among the crowd of up to 400 who’d come from far and wide to vote for the New World Sausage Showdown hosted in Tuatapere.

He’s been tasting winning sausages in the town for some time, ever since the man who put Tuatapere on the national sausage map in the 1980s produced his national winning sausage.

Then Tuatapere butcher Leo Henderson won a radio competition nationally to find the best sausage in the country, his entry voted best in NZ.

Tuatapere coordinator of Thursday’s host event, Anne Horrell, also the Tuatapere Te Waewae Community Board chairperson, says while Leo’s sausages may be no more, his legend has long lived on with Tuatapere still known for its sausages.

Debra Ellis, of Tui Base Camp has carried on the tradition of great Tuatapere sausages, she says.

Photo: Supplied/Advento Photography

“They’re absolutely delicious.”

Well, Art, renowned for his role in the local dance band, still playing the saxophone at 83, agrees. The five finalists in the New World competition’s cook off on Thursday night had all done a great job, but Art reckons, give him a good old Tuatapere sausage any day.

“I have false teeth and I had a job to bite the buggers, especially the one with maple in it,” he says.

“I couldn’t get on them at all.”

And no, while the other almost 400 voters gave the finalists top marks, Art reckons “the Tuatapere ones have got them beat”. “A lot of these fancy ones come up (repeat) on me. They’re just leather jackets,” Art says.

“They’re not as good as the Tuatapere ones.”

He’s lived in the same house in Tuatapere since 1962 and recalls as a kid of 15 rounding up the bullocks for Leo Henderson so he could make those famous local sausages.

“They’d hold the Tuatapere sale and Leo would buy bullocks that we’d chase down the railway line and take turns at killing for him, then they’d be loaded on three frontend loaders,” he says.

“You’ve got to have a ticket on your arse to do anything these days.”

Leo used sheep for his sausages too.

“Leo knew how to make sausages.”

His local successor, Debra, has Leo’s vote too though. “We buy 10 kilos of her local sausages at a time and that does us 12 months,” Art says.

“The Tuatapere ones have got them beat.”

However, the rest of the locals who turned out were pretty impressed with the delicious, unique flavours produced by the finalists – Ramage’s winning cheeseburger sausage; beef jalapeno and cheese; beef brisket, jalapeno and cheddar; chicken Thai green coconut and smoky beef maple.

Even those who weren’t so keen on a kick of spice were taking to the jalapeno options, locals say, and Horrell says they were all full of flavour, Ramage’s particularly so.

“They were all great,” she says.

“Even the little boys were loving the jalapeno ones.

“Leo Henderson’s recommendation for a good sausage was always to make sure it contained plenty of meat and not too much fat,” she says.

Art, who still farms 300 acres locally, would second that: “It’s the same with saveloys now. Not many fellas can make a good saveloy now. They’re all fat and grease,” he says.

The finalists had flown in from as far away as North Shore, Remuera, Hawkes Bay, Christchurch, with Ramage driving from Alexandra, for what was a huge local festival, with entertainment including Lachie Hayes Band, pipers, sausies on the barbie manned by the local Rugby Club boys, craft and food stalls, a bouncy castle and even ‘Sausage On Spoon Races’.

Locals tucked into rather large portions during the tasting then took their vote.

Photo: Supplied/Advento Photography

Horrell says there was a big sausage focus in the lead up to the final with local schoolkids getting right amongst it too, designing their own sausage flavours – notably sausages with ice cream and chocolate!

Others had created acrostic poems about Tuatapere sausages, written sausage stories and entered a colouring in competition.

“It’s been a wonderful festival atmosphere,” she says.

Sue Fea is a senior journalist with more than 40-years experience covering police, social and general news in the southern regions.