Taste the Great Ocean Road a big hit at AFL Country Festival

Were you one of the hundreds of visitors to our Taste the Great Ocean Road stall at the recent Powercor Country Festival?

The Powercor Country Festival was held at Yarra Park to celebrate the AFL Country Game on Saturday 19th May, with over 50,000 attending the Geelong/Essendon game, and record crowds in excess of 20,000 attending the festival, 20% of whom attended the market without going on to the game.

Surf Coast Shire Council, in collaboration with the Otway Harvest Trail and Great Ocean Road Regional Tourism, held a stall in the Farmers Market to promote the Surf Coast, Great Ocean Road and Otway region as a food tourism destination.

Key activations in our “Taste the Great Ocean Road” themed tent included samples of a selection of produce from the Otway Harvest Trail and a green screen photo booth, on loan from the Australian National Surfing Museum, where participants had the opportunity to win a taste of the Great Ocean Road. Providing in excess of 500 samplings, 83 entries into the photo competition, and an estimated total of over 750 site interactions the booth was a great success.

The event was an opportunity to promote local produce to a broad audience while building capacity to deliver through collaboration between organisations with a shared objective. All those involved in the event have expressed how happy they were with the level of engagement achieved through this booth and are keen to collaborate again on future events.

Events such as this will support actions from the G21 Agribusiness Strategy, as well as the upcoming Hinterland Futures Strategy and Local Food Program.

This year, 50 businesses participated in the Powercor Country Festival Farmers Market, with 80% coming from the G21 region, including some great Surf Coast businesses such as Mount Moriac Olives, Food For Joy and of course, the Otway Harvest Trail.

The winner of the Win a Taste of the Great Ocean Road was Mara P-S. Mara has won a half day foodie’s tour of the Surf Coast, kindly provided by Great Ocean Road Private Luxury Tours.