Hamble Valley Festival of Food Exceeds Expectations!
On Saturday 1 September, Hamble was once again transformed into a foodie haven as the annual Hamble Valley Festival of Food returned to the quay. This year saw over 5,000 visitors head down to the popular event in search of delicious local produce and family-friendly entertainment.
With almost 40 foodie stalls, which included favourites from Hampshire’s Farmers’ Markets, the festival also hosted Miller’s Ark animal farm, Punch and Judy, a Vegetable Orchestra, face painting and more. The Old Sea Dogs band serenaded the event with traditional sea shanties, whilst children enjoyed crafts and balloon animals, and for the adults JJ’s Cider and Fizzbox mobile wine bar went down a treat!
Visitors travelled by car, bus, train, and Pink Ferry to visit the festival. Happy shopper Frances Reynolds posted on the Facebook event, “Amazing day, great atmosphere, wonderful stalls & entertainment & you even organised the most wonderful weather.”
It wasn’t just the visitors that enjoyed the fun-filled day, local venders reported a 20% increase in sales during the event. Debbie from The Victory Inn told organisers, “WOW!! Thank you so much for helping to organise this years festival, what a fantastic day everyone had, it was great to see Hamble so busy.”
Organised by The Marketing Collective, Hamble Valley Festival of Food aims to showcase the delicious local produce found in the region. It’s also a great day out for all ages! This year was certainly the busiest Festival of Food to date.
Organiser Louise Collins said, “This year’s Festival of Food exceeded our expectations. It was a fantastic day for visitors, stall holders, and local businesses alike. We know the sheer visitor numbers made parking trickier, but the volunteers from Netley Sea Scouts did an amazing job at organising cars and traffic safely. We were delighted to have raised over £80 on our tombola, which has been donated to the Netley Sea Scouts. We are already collecting feedback from the event and looking forward to making 2019 even better!”
If you would like to find out more about the Hamble Festival of Food, including sponsorship opportunities for 2019, please email info@themarketing-collective.