Organisers happy with festival attendance

Velvet Worm brewer Bart Acres serves a customer while Arjun Haszard (rear), pours another beer.
Velvet Worm brewer Bart Acres serves a customer while Arjun Haszard (rear), pours another beer.
beerfest2140913.JPG
beerfest2140913.JPG
The crowd mingles at the inaugural Dunedin Craft Beer and Food Festival at Forsyth Barr Stadium...
The crowd mingles at the inaugural Dunedin Craft Beer and Food Festival at Forsyth Barr Stadium on Saturday. Photos by Craig Baxter.
Dunedin Craft Beer and Food Festival The Prophet Hens (from left) Robin Cederman, Penelope Esplin...
Dunedin Craft Beer and Food Festival The Prophet Hens (from left) Robin Cederman, Penelope Esplin, Darren Stedman and Karl Bray entertain the crowd.

About 3500 people attended the inaugural Dunedin Craft Beer and Food Festival at Forsyth Barr Stadium on Saturday.

Brighton Holdings owner Matt Black, who ran the festival with the Otago University Students' Association, said the organisers were ''really happy'' with the attendance.

And if Saturday afternoon had been warmer, the crowd would have been bigger, he said.

''We had strong sales pre-event but the walk-up crowd were affected by the cold, especially after midday.''

The colder weather meant beer stalls intended for the car park were set up with the other stalls in the ''warmer'' Otago Daily Times stand site.

Next year, the festival organisers would look at holding the event in October.

They would use more of the grassed areas of the stadium, he said.

The upcoming Bledisloe Cup rugby match dictated the festival could not encroach on to the grass this year.

Next year, international breweries would be invited as stallholders, he said, ''to add an international flavour''.

There would also be more ''family orientated'' activities. There were ''a few little little things to work on'' for next year.

Beer and food tokens needed to be made available faster, he said.

''They were waiting in lines a little longer than we would have liked but we'll work on that and put in a fail-safe system.''

People at the festival had given positive feedback on the event and the stadium.

Those who attended were well-behaved and only one patron needed medical assistance.

''They slipped over on the concrete and it wasn't due to intoxication.''

- shawn.mcavinue@odt.co.nz

 

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