Food and wine just divine
Stanthorpe celebrates heritage as festival wraps up
THE theme was Stanthorpe food and wine – it’s divine, and the biennial festival certainly lived up to the ambition.
The Stanthorpe Apple and Grape Harvest Festival has been billed a roaring success but organisers are wasting no time planning for the next instalment.
Festival president Greg Thouard said early crowd numbers at the weekend were near the 75,000 visitor mark, bringing the total for the 10day event to about 100,000.
“The word is out there and over all these years, since 1966, it has become major attraction with Tourism and Events Queensland, and has iconic status with the State Government,” he said.
“I shake my head at what exactly brings them all here.”
Visitors from around the state converged on the border town for the festival held every two years, getting involved in the myriad of events offered in the jam-packed events program which included the grape crush, street parade, wine masterclasses, gala ball and the Mt Marlay fun run.
“I’ve been doing the grape crush since 1986 so if you’re doing something for 32 years, you don’t do it because you have to, you do it because you love it,” Mr Thouard said.
Under the Stanthorpe food and wine – it’s divine theme, particular focus was put on celebrating the region’s food heritage and pioneers.
“The planning for the 2020 festival will be starting almost immediately after the analysis of the impacts of the current festival is done,” Mr Thouard said.
“What makes (the festival) so successful is the whole committee, the 16 directors and president, are all volunteers.”