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Posts Tagged ‘Abergavenny Food Festival’

Better Late Than Never – Wag’s Food Festival Funding For 2013

25 Apr

This should be a popular post, as I have today finally received the funding list from wag food. It would make me even angrier with wag food, if that were possible, if I could be bothered to count the number of emails, calls made and the time I’ve wasted trying to get this list. Oh to be on the same page as wag food and be working together, but sorry, I’m dreaming again………….!

I’m pleased that so many of you agree that we should have these details at the end of the year and not have to wait until April before even the organisers are told, but we shouldn’t hold our breath on that one. I feel so sorry for some of these organisers who now have to hold urgent committee meetings to see if they are actually able to go forward with their festivals, or if for various reasons such as lateness of funding offer, or maybe having a lower offer made, that they might now re-consider holding their festival. For those festivals running early in the year in particular, this has been nothing short of a stressful nightmare and a very unnecessary one. Plus on a personal level we’ve lost advertising from food festivals as they were awaiting wag’s decision.

In the past I’ve spent many years doing PR, public relations, albeit in the private sector. So I find it hard to envisage the scenario of the Minister finally rubber stamping this list, the news eventually going out to all the organisers on 9th April and the media being ignored until  25th April, despite my chasing again and again for it. If in my PR role I’d acted so slowly, inefficiently and unprofessionally, I simply wouldn’t have kept my job and neither would I have deserved to. In the private sector I was judged on performance and rightly so. Although I keep trying and failing by-and-large, to communicate with the pubic sector, and there can be no dispute that their views and attitudes are sadly totally different than in the real world that the rest of us have to work in.

I was also told by a good source, that the finalisation of the listing was delayed whilst a festival lobbied the Minister, seriously unhappy that  funding was this year being restricted to £10k. Sorry, but I can’t justify wasting more time trying to get that ‘story’ confirmed or denied, so I can only class it as a very interesting rumour, but I must confess it really did make me chuckle. Even without knowing the final outcome, I did wonder if the Minister, or his team then directed this festival to other sources of funding so that they don’t, in effect ‘lose out’. I have submitted an Freedom Of Information question through on this and will let you know the outcome. I’ve also asked for a full list of all festivals that did apply for funding and how much they asked for as this will give us a clearer picture of this budget.

New funding to help food and drink festivals to flourish

The Minister for Natural Resources and Food, Alun Davies has announced over £210,000 to support food festivals and strengthen Wales’ reputation as a foodie nation. The funding, which will help showcase the best of Welsh food and drink to people living in and visiting Wales, will be allocated to 32 separate food festivals scheduled to take place across Wales in 2013 . The support is aimed at raising awareness of the high quality of food and drink on offer in Wales in order to build on Wales’ growing food culture.

Alun Davies said: “Good quality, distinctive food is a central part of our culture here in Wales. I am determined to build on that culture in order to enable our food and drinks industries to strengthen and thrive. We know that food festivals continue to be a big draw for people living in and visiting Wales and are an excellent way of showcasing the very best of Welsh produce. They also allow producers to strengthen their own business capacity which in turn contributes to a strengthened rural economy. I am therefore pleased to announce more than £210,000 to support 32 separate festivals across Wales . During 2013 the festivals will collectively receive £211,164.54 in assistance, to strengthen Wales’ reputation as a producer of high quality and diverse food and drink.

The food festivals receiving funding are:

North

Wrexham Food Festival 18 – 19 May 2013 £7,500.00

Llyn Land & Seafood Festival 25 – 26 May 2013 £5,440.00

Mold Food Festival 21 – 22 September 2013 £9,000.00

Anglesey Oyster & Welsh Produce Festival 12 – 13 October 2013 £1,593.40

Llangollen Food Festival 19 – 20 October 2013 £5,000.00

Gwledd Conwy Feast 26 – 27 October 2013 £10,000.00

Gwyl Fwyd a Chrefft Portmeirion 7 -8 December 2013 £5,850.00

South West

Gorseinon-Swansea Food Festival 27 April 2013 £7,825.00

Really Wild Festival 25-26 May 2013 £6,840.00

Gwyl Fwyd Castell Newydd Emlyn 15 June 2013 £2,955.50

Pembrokeshire Fish Week Festival 22 – 30 June 2013 £10,000.00

Margam Market Day 07 July 2013 £5,458.50

Narberth Food Festival 27 – 29 September 2013 £8,286.00

Neath Food and Drink Festival 4 – 5 October 2013 £8,875.00

Mumbles Oyster Festival 17 – 20 October 2013 £4,350.00

West Wales Food Fayre Nov / Dec TBC £10,000.00

South East

Caerphilly Food Festival 04 May 2013 £7,431.50

Welsh Perry & Cider Festival 24 – 27 May 2013 £3,855.60

Cardiff International Food & Drink Festival 12 – 14 July 2013 £10,000.00

St Fagans Food Festival 7 – 8 September 2013 £7,000.00

Abergavenny Food Festival 21 – 22 September 2013 £10,000.00

Feastival 27 – 28 September 2013 £9,000.00

Newport Food Festival 05 October 2013 £7,590.00

Abergavenny Christmas Food & Drink Fair 08 December 2013 £8,500.00

Mid

Hay Summer Food Festival 29 June 2013 £1,775.00

Cardigan Bay Seafood Festival 07 July 2013 £9,000.00

Lampeter Food Festival 27 July 2013 £7,000.00

Cardigan River & Food Festival 10 – 11 August 2013 £10,000.00

Aberystwyth Food & Drink Festival 21 September 2013 £3,613.04

Newtown Food Festival 21 – 22 September 2013 £3,580.00

Brecon Beacons Food Festival 05 October 2013 £2,625.00

Hay Winter Food Festival 30 November 2013 £1,221.00

My team is checking out this list of dates and note that Newtown will run on 7th & 8th September not 21/22nd as wag state.

Just for interest last year 2012, food festivals were allocated £339,280 for 33 festivals. Despite the Minister saying how important Welsh food is to the economy, including tourism, this is a massive chop in this budget down to £210k.

 

 

 
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Is This Welsh Food Month?

21 Sep

A producer very kindly sent me an article from the Western Mail which was part of its focus on Welsh food and dated 18th September.

Much of the article’s focus was on food festivals, starting with Abergavenny, with much comment from Kim Waters, its Chief Executive. I was interested to learn that Mr Waters stated that Abergavenny attracts 35,000 per year, especially when I did the sums-on-the-gate working on an entrance fee of £6.50, for Sunday, bearing in mind on Saturday the entrance fee is £8.00. With 35.000 visitors at just £6.50, that’s and income of £227,500 and I think most of us are aware Sunday is very much the quieter day for visitors. This festival took £46,880 from the food festival budget, plus the support from their council and sponsorship not to mention the tradestand revenue – which is quite an income.

What I did disagree with in this feature though is the journalist saying that: Wales now has at least 15 festivals celebrating local ingredients from across the nation with numbers growing all the time. Well yes, Wales does have at least 15 festivals, in fact this year wag have managed to support financially 33 festivals. This includes Abergavenny food festival and Abergavenny’s Christmas fair which is getting £2,200. In 2011 wag supported 31 festivals but in 2010 it was 51. However the  count of food festivals on our welshcountry.co.uk, this year is 91 festivals.

 
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Abergavenny Food Festival

19 Sep

I visited Abergavenny on Sunday and was delighted that the hospitality that I raved about last year was running this year too. When I signed in at 8.30 it was a huge pleasure to catch up with our super hostess in Hospitality, Suzanah from sbh events. That lady has not lost her flair for cooking and entertaining and neither have her team – it was brilliant. The selection of food and drink on offer was excellent and just what the visiting VIPS, guest speakers and media surely appreciated. A professional board gave the list of producers who donated produce and I hope that they get good feedback for their generosity. Being able to call back into the Kings Head where Hospitality was sited, is a massive bonus and Suzanah and her team should be congratulated for putting on such a professional and tasty show!! Of course in my world all the produce would have been Welsh, which goes without saying really, but no other food event that I have been to have looked after media so well and it was a real bonus. Hopefully everyone who was invited into hospitality really enjoyed it. I was also impressed to be given a goody bag which contained a super selection of productsbut sadly not all Welsh. That really was a disappointment, only because the bags in my view should serve as a reminder that they’ve been to a Welsh food festival!!!  Yet this is the first time I’ve received a goodby bag from a Welsh food festival, so it was a lovley surprise, a fantastic idea and very welcomed. I did go to Ty Gwyn Cider and Blaenafon Cheddar Co; both are with us as Best Of Welsh producers, BOW and thanked them personally as their produce were in my goody bag. Others of our BOW that also donated samples were Ralph’s Cider and Perry, Homemade Country Preserves and South Caernarfon Creameries. Fingers crossed that those companies who donated get great feedback and those very important sales.

There is no doubt that this is one of Wales’s largest food festivals and there’s also no doubt that this festival takes the largest chunk of money out of our dwindling food festival budget. This year it was to the tune of £46,800 as against £52,200 last year, a small decreases but still a very large sum of money. I’ve been told by wag for many years that food festivals are given funding if they meet wag’s criteria, but wag’s objective is that the festivals should aim to be self-funding. Maybe I should have queried what ‘aim’ means in wag terms. But congratulations to all involved, that even on Sunday, which is always the quieter day, it was still very busy. There didn’t seem to be any negative reaction to visitors being charged an entrance fee of £8.00 on Saturday and £6.50 on Sunday. Abergavenny excels at using newsletters, Facebook and Facebook, embracing PR & Social media and have proved that it really does work for them; maybe other festivals will take note and follow their lead. Another positive is the number of volunteers Abergavenny manage to attract, there were lots of young people especially, and clearly visible in t-shirts. Every volunteer I spoke to was friendly and helpful, although understandably a little tired by Sunday.

Now I must move on to the traders themselves. I didn’t talk to any that hadn’t had a good weekend and my goodness they did need it after a very difficult trading season. But the issue that constantly surfaces every year without fail is how traders get accepted or more importantly why many Welsh traders don’t! Bearing in mind over the last six years obtaining a stand, or not, is one of my most frequently asked questions. Why producers think I should know Abergavenny’s selection procedure is a puzzle, I agree, but after last year’s shambles in the Fish Market I did ask officially, in June I think, for their selection criteria. Although my request was sent through to their Chief Executive, I haven’t had a reply. Strange that, or is it? Does it go with what many producers believe that at this festival, more than any other, is a matter of ‘if your face fits, or if you happened to know, or be mates with, one of the committee’ Well I’m sure in many instances that is the case and what I would plead with ‘the committee’ is to understand that this is the way many of our Welsh producers earn their living. Staying with the Fish Market now thankfully renamed the Priory, there can be no doubt that last year it was a total shambles and a poor example of how a food festival should be run. Tentage was poor to vaguely non-existent, traders were sited there that should not have been with that poor layout Abergavenny had. I was embarrassed about it and furious on behalf of producers that had been shunted up there, especially as some were our BOW guys. Some of them spoke to the organisers before the event complaining about where they were being put, knowing as they’d been attending Abergavenny for years that it would not work for their business. Abergavenny insisted that it would and were proved wrong. Other traders spoke to the organisers on the Saturday, some tried both options. A few also wrote in after the event what they felt was wrong with the Fish Market for their stand.  Now I would have thought that those trader actions were reasonable and should have been helpful to Abergavenny. Silly me, when will I grow up and realize that some people-in-power, PIPs, don’t want any criticism? These PIPs possibly ignore most feedback, because they think their event is perfect, others because they can’t cope being told they are wrong by traders of all people – an attitude of complain if you dare but next year you might jolly well not get in at all. So that is a brief update of last year but what about 2012? Well surprise; surprise some that complained didn’t get in this year – now how grown up is that? It is totally pathetic and I sincerely wish this was not allowed to happen. Now as if that wasn’t bad enough when I went up into what was the Fish Market last year, and as already said it’s now simply the  Priory – that move alone makes much more sense. That was Abergavenny’s first smart move. Yes fish was still there, but at the back of the fish and wine stands, there was a professional marquee with lots of great stands inside. So, well done organisers, that was your second smart move. By improving the tentage there you transformed a dreadful area into a positive trading area. We again had some of our BOW in there and they’d had a very good weekend. But where you failed dear organisers is by losing the marketing promotional opportunity of turning last year’s Fish Market disaster into a Priory triumph. You could have made much of the fact that you had not only listened to the unhappy traders from last year, but actually acted on their complaints and suggestions. I cannot and will not claim any credit for this massive transformation of the Fish Market as I’m sure you would not any heed to my comments on welshfoodbites. That’s perfectly fine, as my role is to help our producers. Your final gaff in the Fish Market/Priory saga is not allowing and encouraging some of the unhappy producers from last year back in. In fairness if you’d done them a deal to return that would have been paid back in spades with their vocal positive chat about you. As it is you have some unhappy Welsh traders moaning about Abergavenny……………………………..still!!!

I did a quick rough count of tradestands this year and got to 229 in total, with about 28 stands from the Borders, which in my book still counts as Wales, there were 18 stands that I struggled to know where they were from and 74 that were from further away in the UK or abroad. I wonder how that fits in with wags latest food festival evaluation which festivals are supposed to be looking at: Is the event considered to be an exemplar to the promotion or Welsh food to visitors.

I note that the garlic man from the Isle of Wight has been promoted from trading in the street to a prime stand spot outside the Market Hall in Brewery Yard. Not only that, but he’s been allowed to also bring his friends in so he could sell tomatoes too!! I’m sorry, but it still annoys me when such a warm welcome can be given to so many UK and foreign stands when so many genuine, professional Welsh traders are turned away. As can be seen Abergavenny Food Festival, from the man on the street’s point of view is a wonderful festival but it is the funding that is so annoying. Pembrokeshire Fish Week is supported by the Welsh Major Events Unit promoting tourism, Abergavenny is not. But Abergavenny is funded to the tune of nearly £50,000 from the Welsh Food Festival budget which aim is to promote Welsh Food and thus its producers. So with the current situation it appears many English tradestands can get help from their own regional food body to grow and attend food festivals and then be subsidised by the Welsh Government with their generous help from the festival budget.  If Abergavenny needs so much funding, but as they charge for everything I find it puzzling, why can’t their funding come from either Visit Wales directly or its offshoot the Major Events Unit. This would leave more in the food festival pot for those smaller festivals that are really supporting Welsh producers.

Congrats Abergavenny, you put on a very good festival, but there are still some wrinkles that could easily have been improved. I do hope you consider them and go from strength to strength. Every credit to all those involved in turning the Fish Market around, but as stated, and I hope clearly enough, that you could still have done better there.

For last year’s post see 19th September 2011

 

 

 

 
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Abergavenny Food Festival & Royal Welsh Show – Changes At The Top

04 Sep

Things are certainly up for change in the Welsh food world. As Wynfford James leaves FFMDD, along come two posts that will also have a big effect on the Welsh rural and food scene.

It was announced last month that the chief executive of the Royal Welsh Agricultural Society, David Walters, is to leave the organisation next year when he reaches retirement age next May.

Now a Chief Executive is required for Abergavenny Food Festival following Kim Waters who is leaving the festival after 14 years in post. So if you are a person with good corporate, management, marketing and financial skills, can work from Abergavenny and would like the post of part-time Chief Executive, then get your CV in before 23rd September.

 

 
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Welsh Food Festivals And The Enviromental Health

17 Aug

I’ve had an email from a professional producer with attachments from the Monmouthshire Enviromental Health, EH, in relation to Abergavenny Food Festival. There were six attachments including: trade letter, 2012 Advice Leaflet Stallholders, questionnaire, check list, list of cleaning products, plus a temp records sheet. I’m assuming that all these six documents have to be completed for each event attended, but then do traders simply complete one set and scan of photocopy them through for the rest of the year? Otherwise isn’t there a way that this system can be simplified to make life easier for traders without them having to jump through too many environmental hoops? I do understand that EH have to tick endless boxes to keep the public safe, but if this system can be made easier, then that in itself is a huge step forward on the efficiency ladder.

I have the same opinion about the application form for festivals, surely this could be standardised to create a general form because the same questions are going to be asked for each event. The producers then can just complete one form per year and again scan or photocopy it each time they apply for a tradestand. If festivals then have their own ‘quirks’ then they can send a separate form, which surely will not be that long. Please let’s try to make our traders lives easier as very few of them have the luxury of a PA or an Admin person sitting, waiting to fill in more and more forms. Any hope that wag be thinking about making the traders’ paperwork any simpler?

 

 

 
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How Do Traders Know Each Festival’s Tradestand Criteria?

18 Jun


I get asked this question on a regular basis and it is yet another that I haven’t got an answer to. The main festivals causing traders headaches are: Abergavenny, Cardiff and Cowbridge, three of our biggest and busiest festivals. So it’s obvious that these three are going to have far too many applications and so culling will of course be done. But its how this culling is done that sparks the grumbles and the complaints from producers.

Chatting to Cowbridge about this issue, it’s really good to talk and makes so much more sense. Cowbridge were more than happy to clarify how they work, which was really helpful, so I then decided to email Abergavenny and Cardiff and asked them to send me their criteria. I didn’t get a response so sent a reminder and Cardiff was hoping to send it through by the end of last week and apparently Abergavenny are looking at it. When of if either come through they will of course be posted as I’m sure you’ll find them
helpful.

It’s puzzling for traders to understand why they have been bumped off a particular festival. ‘We’ve had too many applications’, might be acceptable if festivals aren’t your main source of trading and therefore income. But if a trader has supported a festival since its early days and the festival has grown thanks to these quality traders, then isn’t it reasonable that the festivals owe these traders some loyalty? Or am I being too old-fashioned? The tales I’m told is that a these festivals grow, a touch of arrogance can sometimes creep in and the old guard of traders are either dumped or in the case of Abergavenny last year moved from a busy, popular area by the Market Hall and moved into the Fish Market. It was highly inappropriate siting for most of these guys, not to
mention totally unfair. Last year I posted fully on Abergavenny, so no need for me to go over this ground yet again, but it’s there for you to check out if you wish.

Loyalty in my opinion, should matter and I don’t agree with organisers telling me that visitors want a change. If visitors are only going there once a year; cannot the chefs, the entertainment, lectures and talks be classed as entertainment and therefore variety? If visitors didn’t like the traders produce, they wouldn’t purchase and if that happened it wouldn’t be in the trader’s interest to attend, would it? I think there are more unhappy visitors when a trader has been moved and they struggle to find them, or even worse, the organiser has not allowed one of their favourites in that year! Maybe I’m making this too simple, but I can’t really see why traders are not told how each event makes their selection. Are festivals there initially for the producers, or as a tourist attraction?

COMMENTS

You have nothing to fear by leaving your comments. I enjoy reading your comments and sharing your thoughts, even if you disagree with me – that’s allowed! You can rest assured your details will only be known to me and that’s where they’ll stay – you have my word. You don’t have to put your name either, a pen name or nickname will suffice, we do have a large number of traders – but that’s fine, it’s the content that matters, what you’re happy with, what you are cross about, what in your view needs changing, etc.

 
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Welsh Food At The Smallholder Show

21 May

The only way I can start this post is to query, yet again, why this event has not got funding from wag again this year. In my research, I’ve established that this event has never been funded from the Food Festival budget, but from ‘Promoting Welsh Food’ – Budget Expenditure Line. From last year under the latest festival criteria rules, festivals have to have food as the core activity. Some years ago Steve Shearman, was asked by wag to run this event for them, but last year was then told that there would be no funding for the Smallholder. Further investigation uncovered how Smallholder had been funded. I asked how much had
been in the ‘Promoting Welsh Food’ – Budget Expenditure Line for 2008/9, 2009/10, 2010/11, who received funding from this budget over these three years and finally how this funding was allocated. I was told that my questions were so time consuming, it would cost wag over £600 to determine if they hold this information, to retrieve and extract it, so wag decided not to process my
questions.

Well that wasn’t useful, bearing in mind this is funding from a wag budget and I’m simply asking how it was spent. Can you really expect me to believe that wag are so sloppy that they don’t keep financial records of how they spend our money? Of course the RWS Show and the Winter Fair food halls are funded by wag and these two events obviously don’t have food as their core activity, but seemingly those two exceptions are allowed because wag are allowed to make their own rules
and keep the secret if they so wish.

In 2010, food hall hire for RWS was £65,403.32 and for the Winter Fair was £19,975.00. Event Build and Management Costs were £131,968.22 and £56,078.64 respectively. So these are not cheap events to put on but wag in its wisdom have decided to pull the plug again this year for Smallholder and in effect give out food producers another slap in the face. In the RWS especially you see large, large companies that are purely there for PR and can easily afford stands that are not subsidised by wag, whilst genuine micro and small producers simply cannot afford to take a stand at the RWS. But sadly wag appears not to care about this
quirk either.

Now I’ve reminded you of my background work, let me return to my visit there yesterday. Hardworking organiser Steve Shearman had no choice last year to substantially raise his stand prices and this has a huge knock on effect down the line, some traders couldn’t cope with the increase and didn’t attend, others had to take this hit and accept their overheads had rocketed. Thankfully all traders were aware that the tradestand price increase was down to an unsupportive wag, not to Steve.

I had many complaints from producers about the number of festivals they’d not been accepted for and the main culprits were: Abergavenny, Cardiff and Cowbridge. I know that these three are popular festivals and organisers know that they are in the fortunate position that they can pick and choose who they accept. But I do wish that applications gave producers full details and not say when they are rejected maybe they should have sent samples in because we don’t know you. I can tell you now that being a True Taste winner didn’t help this particular company! What I would also like some organisers to think about whilst they are in the position of playing God, that some of these companies rely on festivals and markets for their livelihood, not many of them have the back up of also being in super markets, they are simply too small to take this route. My final comment is that when producers have been loyal, supporting your event since it first started surely should count from something instead of being thrown out like last weeks rubbish.

There was a good mix of stands in the food hall, some superb produce available. It’s always a pleasure too to see so many of our Best Of Welsh & Borders producers there too. Steve had put  tentage outside with tables and chairs so visitors could buy and eat their food in comfort, but I hated seeing people using this area for their own packed lunch. Yes I know they were saving money and I no times are tough, but I’m also sure they did not give the producers a thought. In their eyes it was just somewhere to sit and eat their picnic in comfort!!!!

I got very mixed reports, which is the normal, but I’m safe in saying that many traders were well down on last year and the year before. The recession isn’t helping anyone, but all those traders would have been far happier if wag had supported this event.

Try as I might I cannot understand why wag don’t fund the Smallholder. How can wag food appear to think that it’s not important to have a Welsh food presence at the Smallholder? If they do believe that’s true then I think some of them need reminding of which department they are working for.

Well done wag another own goal.

 
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FOI 5995 – Welsh Food Festival Funding – At Last

17 May

Was it worth waiting for? I’ll await your views!!!!

It’s taken a lot of time and a great deal of effort to get this list and I had to resort to asking for it under Freedom Of Information Act, so I hope that you appreciate the effort involved!!!! I’m not sure that you’ll agree with Wag’s and Visit Wales’ decisions, but sure you will let me know by posting your comments or email me with your views.

My initial concern was that two events that run in early March Saundersfoot and a Swansea festival and will run again 2013 but still count as in this year’s budget have not been shown. So I’m asking if this is an error or if these events are running again next year. My other surprise is that Fish Week now appears in this budget taking out a whacking £31, 671. I thought that this event was funded under RDP for 2007-13 and last year received grant funding of £55,636, plus £30,711 from Pembrokeshire County Council, in 2010 grant funding was £77,157. I have also asked why Fish Week is now being taken from the festival budget.

In case you wish to know, 52 food festivals applied for the Food Festival Grant Funding Support for 2012/13  and to save you totting up, I’ll tell you that only 33 festivals were lucky enough to get funding, with some as always, appearing luckier than others. I’m interested to know if any of the food festivals got the amount of money they applied for. I’d also like to know how those in power wokred out the amounts they were going to offer each festival, but even I can’t be bothered to pursue that one!!!

I do wonder about the wisdom, or lack of wisdom, in that Newport and Neath have each been given £8k – £9k but they are  running on the same weekend, as it Brecon, though Brecon will obviously draw from Powys for producers. But do we really have enough quality producers to put on three good festivals?  Time will tell, but I do hope these three festivals, maybe more than most put some serious energy into their promotion and marketing. Traders you have been warned, please ask before you pay, because unhappy Best Of Welsh & Border producers I do not need!

Wag’s ‘Big 3’: Abergavenny, Cardiff and Conwy have all had budget reductions from last year, but 10/11 was the final year on a 3 year plan, funded under the Total Supply Chain Efficiency Funding. These all had huge increases from 08/09 – 10/11, for example Conwy went from £25k, to £43k to £41k and now this year gets £33,683.61. What continues to puzzle me is that wag has been sounding off for years that festivals must try to get to be self-funding and these three have the best chance for sponsorship, but they are still well funded as wag has now decreed that they have been awarded ‘international’ status which is an easy way of wag saying: “don’t worry we’ll keep funding you guys”…………………………..
Any further updates will of course be posted.

Name of Date Amount of
Festival Funding
Gorseinon Food   Festival 28-Apr £8,460.00
Riverside Food   Festival 20-May £2,249.00
Caerphilly Food Festival 26-May £9,753.00
Welsh Perry   & Cider Festival 1 – 4 June £5,260.00
Llyn Land & Seafood Festival 2 – 3 June £8,230.00
Gwyl Fwyd Castell Newydd Emlyn 16-Jun £7,133.80
The Pembrokeshire Fish Week Festival 23 June – 1 July £31,671.00
Hay Food Festival 30-Jun £2,601.00
Llandysul Food Festival 30-Jun £5,644.00
Margam
Festival – Margam Market Day		 01-Jul £9,889.20
Cardiff International Food & Drink 6 – 8 July £25,608.85
Cardigan Bay Seafood Festival, Aberaeron 08-Jul £9,500.00
Eating Green /Cider Palooza Festival 12 – 14 July £5,000.00
Really Wild Food & Countryside Festival 27 – 28 July £11,963.77
Lampeter Food Festival 28-Jul £6,150.00
Carmarthen Food Festival 01-Aug £6,500.00
Cardigan River & Food Festival 11 – 12 August £10,400.00
Welsh Food Festival 1 – 2 September £6,225.00
Aberystwyth Food & Drink Festival 15-Sep £7,418.61
Abergavenny Food Festival 15–16 September £46,800.00
Narberth Food Festival 21–23 September £8,161.40
Mold Food and Drink Festival 22- 23 September £8,025.00
Feastival  (Bridgend) 28- 29 September £9,900.00
Newport Food Festival 5 – 6 October £8,105.97
Neath Food and Drink Festival 5 – 6 October £9,999.00
Brecon Beacons Food Festival 06-Oct £4,480.00
Anglesey Oyster Festival 13 – 14 October £3,098.00
Mumbles Oyster Fair 19 – 21 October £9,500.00
Llangollen Food Festival 20 – 21 October £4,000.00
Gwledd Conwy Feast 25 – 28 October £33,683.61
Cowbridge Food and Drink Festival 27 – 28 October £9,900.00
Hay Winter Food Festival 24-Nov £1,771.00
Abergavenny Christmas Food & Drink 11-Dec £2,200.00

 

Wag’s list has now gone up on welshcountry.co.uk and of course it has been sent around our Best Of Welsh & Borders producers, so at least some of the rumours which have been frantically doing the rounds, will now be quashed.

 
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‘A Sense Of Place’ For Welsh Food………

17 Apr

Just to keep you updated, follows is an extract from press release received from Wag on 30th January about their support for food festivals.

Alun Davies, Deputy Minister for Agriculture, Food and Fisheries said, “Each year food festivals in Wales contribute millions of pounds to the economy and are a key element in promoting Wales’ burgeoning food culture and giving visitors a sense of place’. Large or small, they have their own distinct character, but with one common thread – to bring to the public’s attention the fantastic array of food and drink produced in Wales.”

The press release ended by saying:
“Any financial support provided by FMDD will be limited to that which is necessary to achieve the overall objective of providing capacity building opportunities for food & drink producers from Wales as well as contributing to a broadened & strengthened rural economy”.

Well this got me thinking, or fuming, because basically I’m not sure what this press release means. Initially I would think building opportunities for food and drink producers from Wales is spot on, until I get complaints from producers saying that some festival organisers, give priority to producers from outside Wales.  But its not just a priority in allowing them tradestand space, but often they get the best sites too! So how does that work? Especially considering that this isn’t just happening at the larger, or let’s say Wag’s ‘Big Three’, Abergavenny, Conwy and Cardiff that allow all comers in from the UK, but those that I’d class as only small to medium size events. When I have raised these issues with Wag, I’ve been told that as this funding is from European money, all
tradestands must be accepted.

But if you’re a visitor to Wales and go along to one of our food festivals, where do you expect the food to have come from, the Isle of Wight, Scotland, Oxfordshire, Yorkshire? Of course not. ‘A sense of place’ for our visitors has to mean local food, food sourced here in Wales from our superb artisan producers. Isn’t that what you’d expect too?

So why then does Wag’s press release appear to say that they are backing our food producers all the way? That
is certainly not what I hear day after day so eiother Wag is wrong or our producers are. After talking contstantly to our Best If Welsh & Borders producers, I certainly know which I believe.

 
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Promotion & Marketing Of Food Festivals

17 Aug

Since I sent around our Best Of Welsh & Borders producers the Welsh Government list of funding to food festivals, there have been a lot more questions being asked as to what many of them do with their money. Well I have to say there’s no point asking me, if they want to know they must ask the organisers themselves. As you would expect they all work very differently, have vastly varying priorities and obviously varying amounts of experience of putting on festivals.

I have no idea at all what guidance or maybe restrictions that the government sets on how ‘their’ money is spent, or if that happens. But I do think it is more than time that some priorities were laid down for funded festivals. I think we can all agree that food festivals must have food as their core activity which must therefore mean that food is the priority, which means that producers are paramount. Sadly we know that at many events this is simply not the case. But unless producers vote with their feet and don’t attend, or Wag makes an effort to improve all festivals, producers are in a difficult situation.

One suggestion that I have been thinking about is that a well established, professional producer is invited onto their local festival committee. Their role will be to inform the committee the basics that traders must have and I’m looking at electric that doesn’t fail within the first hour – that’s even if it gets connected in the first place, and traders are not paying through the nose for the ‘honour’  of having that vital power supply. A couple of portable toilets placed near the traders – just for them, so that those having to work solo don’t have to waste precious selling time going on a country hike to take a natural break! They could help on layout of stands as they have a must better idea of traffic flow than anyone, noise levels for music, parking vans, loading and off-loading, number of similar stands – these are all issues that can make a traders life easier or make them feel that this is the last time they waste their hard earned cash at this event. I’m sure they’ll also have lots of additional ideas that would make their event special, not just for them, but for the public too. The trader representative could be the official spokesperson for the event and maybe this would will take pressure away from the organisers and help the event run more smoothly.

There always seem to be complaints from traders about festivals but after running them for years shouldn’t the bulk of the troubles have now been sorted? I know that festivals are run basically by volunteers, but the fact no-one can run away from is that festivals are much-needed income for traders. They are not attending to pay for an exotic holiday, they’re attending to pay their mortgages, pay their council tax and feed their kids. I’m positive that life for organisers would be much easier if communication was better between them and the traders. I am still wondering why traders pay their money but quite often have no idea where they will be sited. Would it be too difficult for organisers to issue a site plan with the tradestands shown and traders can book where they wish. Of course that means that there would be some flexibility in stand prices as those with better traffic flow would be charged at a premium, whilst those on the out edges would be slightly cheaper. Would this work? I know I have had lots of moans about Abergavenny again this year not only from those that couldn’t get accepted but those who have been placed in an area they’d rather not be in. Some organisers have told me that a few traders could be difficult and although you do occasionally get unprofessional guys on the circuit, I just explain, quite patiently, that this is their livelihood and the majority just want to earn some decent money.   

At an event this year with very low attendance, I was asked what this festival has done about advertising and marketing. Well that was another question I couldn’t answer apart from the fact they weren’t advertising with Welsh Country, which meant that wouldn’t have sent details around our Best Of Welsh & Borders producers, put up on Welsh Country website or done any editorial in a relevant issue. So I would assume it was local advertising, if any. I’m sure I’m right on my guess that traders, when they book their space, ask what Promotion & Marketing the organisers are going to do, they simply hope and trust that the organisers will have a plan on how to get people into the event – fingers crossed!!!

I’m not 100% sure, but I understand that organisers are allowed to use their own judgement on Promotion & Marketing as they are not directed by Wag, but I must finish off by sharing this story with you. As we finish off our September/October issue, we contacted Conwy Food Festival to see if they wished to work with us, but were told: no we get lots of local editorial and the Welsh Government look after us very well with funding.” Well there’s lots of truth in that with Wag giving them £41k this year, the same amount as they received last year – so lucky Conwy, no budget cuts there, wonder if tradestand prices have come down as they are so financially well looked by Wag.

Abergavenny,Cardiffand Conwy were festivals I have highlighted as being fortunate in not having their funding cut this year and querying why. It was only when we downloaded the Miller Research report that to get around high funding for these three festivals, that they are now classed as ‘Flagship National Events’ and so I guess they can continue to feel confident that Wag will continue to look at this trio very well.  Think to summarise it’s down to the producers to speak up if they are not happy and make suggestions for improvements, but I know a few are reluctant to do this as they feel they wont get a stand the following year of be stuck out on the edge. I don’t wish to say they can’t win, I simply think we must just find ways to improve.

 
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