Food festival potential

Last week I attended a meeting about the Whisky Coast and their plans to run a food and drink festival at Inveraray castle next May. Then by coincidence I was invited this weekend to the Abergavenny Food Festival in Wales and not being one to look a gift horse in the mouth thought I could use the visit both as fact finding and enjoyment so headed south. By chance it all fitted in well with a meeting in the south prior to the event and one on the way north in Chester.

So mixing business with pleasure I wandered round the festival, now in its 10th year and was amazed by the diversity of stands and the huge wealth of choice and products on display. What began as a simple chance for local farmers and restaurants to showcase a that is positive about the local area has become a huge festival with suppliers and producers from not only wales but also England and even Scotland and clearly some of the show moves around the country from week to week selling and advertising as it goes.

The whole event was also however blessed by fantastic weather which insured that the fact it had grown throughout the town and involved wandering some distance between exhibitions became a positive opportunity to stand in the sun as opposed to a mad rush between rain showers as I believe it may have been in the past and possibly could be at inverarary! Alongside the show was also several other events such as entertainment, arts , crafts and music and lots of family activities to keep everybody occupied and in the evenings their were still further demonstrations and specialty dinners for the visitors.

All in all whilst the event musty have grown hugely over the last decade and developed enormously involving a great deal of organization and effort it was also clear that it has not only created a great showcase for the area but also a central point for visitors from all over to come and visit. Lest hope the Inverarary event can do the same!