CITY Park reached its 10,000 capacity on Saturday night, forcing Festivale organisers to put up “event full” signs at the entrances.
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It was the first time the event has achieved the feat in committee chairperson David Dunn’s 13 years of involvement.
He said it was great to see the Tasmanian public getting behind Festivale for another year.
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“It’s a combination of the entertainment lineup over three days, the perfect weather we’ve enjoyed and everything that’s on offer,” Mr Dunn said.
“We sold a lot more tickets in the lead-up so we didn’t have as many at the gate as previous years.”
More than 13,000 people attended Festivale throughout Saturday including 10,000 in the evening, along with 8000 on Friday and an estimated 5000 on Sunday, taking the total to at least 26,000.
The 2018 event attracted 22,500 attendees.
Launceston police were also pleased with the behaviour of patrons and were not required to attend any incidents at City Park over the three days.
Stillwater co-owner Kim Seagram joined Masterchef judge Matt Preston on stage on Sunday where they put together restaurant-quality dishes using affordable local produce. As Preston put it, they were demonstrating how cooking was increasingly “getting back to reality” and “isn’t all about dust and foam”, like some reality cooking shows.
Preston said he was impressed with the Harvest Market in Launceston where he discovered exciting produce to experiment with.
“I loved the black garlic and the smoked garlic from Tasmanian Natural Garlic and Tomatoes in Selbourne,” he said.
“I found that at the Harvest Market, they’re amazing.
“I picked up some wonderful radishes as well.”
He also popped in to Bryher on George Street on Sunday morning to see how chefs were making use of the region’s ample local produce.
“I love what they’re doing at Bryher, where you can bring in your mulberries and they’ll give you something else,” he said.
“What a great idea.
“To me, that gives me the sense that Launceston is about community and that ability to have a proper community. It’s such a cool thing, it already exists here, and exists at farmers markets, it exists at Bryher, it exists in events like this.
“That’s exciting to see.”