The organisers of Tasmania’s Taste of Summer are hoping for a bumper crowd of around 100,000 people over the next 8 days.
General Manager Katharine Dean says ticket sales are up 30% compared to this time last year.
“Last year we had over 85,000 people. Fingers crossed we have some great weather. We’re really hoping to get towards 100,000” she said.
She says there are “quite a few hundred” staff working across the event, from stallholders and their crew to event operations personnel.
The festival kicks off on Saturday at the Hobart waterfront and will feature 70 stallholders, 45% of which will be selling drinks.
“We have 17 new stallholders and our curators, Joe and Khayla, have been working really hard with those stalls to really have a refined menu and do one or two things really well,” Dean said.
“Along with our new stallholders, we’re really trying to enhance and do the various spaces, like the 7K Pavilion, that’s had a huge facelift this year.”
“We’ve got the Clover Hill Atrium, which we’ve moved towards the waterfront and really choosing stalls in each area that complement each other.”
“And families and patrons can go to those areas and they can have a bit of everything of produce from across the state in all areas of the taste.”
The festival is also expected to boost the local economy, with 30% of ticket sales coming from interstate.
“It is encouraging tourists that might already be coming down here to stay here longer. It gets everybody out,” Dean said.
“It’s meeting families and friends between the Sydney to Hobart and The Taste … It’s really important for this time of year to activate the waterfront.”
