By TANIA PHILLIPS
THE Tweed Coast’s first foray into the Tweed Foodie Fest has been declared a major success with organisers already planning the next event.
Kingscliff Chamber of Commerce president and co-Foodie Fest co-ordinator, Jayne Henry said the four Tweed Coast events during the third annual festival, had exceeded expectations.
“It was just fabulous,” she said.
“Next year’s event is going to be seriously awesome, bigger than Ben Hur!
“I think everyone just loved it and got behind it.”
The Foodie Fest is now in its third year, but up until this year has been solely based in Murwillumbah and surrounding areas. The event was expanded from three to five days to include the Tweed Coast events.
Kingscliff-based events included the Foodie Film with wine and cheese at Cinemax Cinema, Kingscliff, the Ready, Steady, Cook Challenge at Kingscliff TAFE, the Taste of Tweed High Tea and Pop-Up Market at Salt and the signature event Scoot Long Table Dinner by the beach in Lions Park, Kingscliff, on Friday night.
The Foodie Film kicked off the Coast events and was a sold-out affair setting the scene for a busy few days which culminated in the dinner – attended by 120 people.
“People from as far as Victoria Point, North Brisbane attended the dinner and the rain even held off until we were packing up,” Jayne said.
She said there was a lot of local support although from the feedback, they will now move it to Saturday as it was hard for Gold Coasters to get there due to daylight savings.
“But the food was awesome – we have the best group of local restaurant owners around here. They were so professional, patient and accommodating.
“I was expecting a lot of little teething problems but it never happened.”
She said there was a lot of support from local businesses including the Taphouse’s Greg Swift who took care of setting up and running the bar at the dinner. While Tursa Training and Recruitment supplied 10 paid staff for the event.
The High Tea at Salt attracted more than 50 people on Friday morning for an elegant event with sweet and savoury treats and local Madura Tea while the wine tasting and movie night, on the Thursday at Cinemax was a sold-out affair.
“There was a brilliant wine and cheese event – Stephen and Deborah at the cinema were fabulous and moved heaven and earth to get a great movie. We are actually looking to do something else with them before next year’s event.”
She said the event was the forerunner for next year’s Taste of Kingscliff and the Tweed Coast.
“That will be a 10-day event which will include Tweed’s biggest picnic at Jack Evans Boat Harbour and culminate in the long table dinner down Marine Parade,” she said.
