TASTING Plans underway for Westport Food Festival

ON BOARD Eoin McDonnell, Head Chef, Wyatt Hotel is on the committee who are organising Westport’s first food festival.


Westport to host its first food festival


WESTPORT is already home to a music festival, an arts festival, adventure festival and some of the country’s finest food and hospitality. Now plans are at an advanced stage for people to truly savour the best of Westport with the introduction of its first-ever food festival in September.
A festival committee of local business people is currently in the throes of finalising a programme of events for the inaugural Westport Food Festival which will take place over three days from September 2 to September 4. The committee comprises of Barney Clarke, General Manager, Wyatt Hotel: Declan Heneghan, General Manager, Hotel Westport; Sinéad Lambert Barroso, Proprietor, Sol Rio; Eoin McDonnell, Head Chef, Wyatt Hotel; Garrett McGuinness, General Manager, Carlton Coast Atlantic Hotel; SeΡn O’Grady, O’Grady’s Bar and Catherine O’Grady-Power, General Manager, O’Cees.
A festival logo is complete and the committee has confirmed that a festival programme will be unveiled later this month with an accompanying website going live on the same day.
Festival Director Orla O’Malley commented: “The festival committee is working on a voluntary basis and our intention is to roll out a series of events that showcase the wonderful food, producers, hotels, restaurants and pubs in Westport. With proactive support from the various local food and hospitality businesses, we hope to create a wonderful inaugural festival for Westport and something that can be built on to become an annual event.
“Times are tough and we have a limited budget. However, we are very grateful to FΡilte Ireland and Pallas Foods, who have come on board as sponsors to ensure a food festival for Westport is something that has finally become a reality”, Ms O’Malley added.
The Mall will be the centre of the festival activity with other events planned for the Quay area as well as separate activities in individual hotels, restaurants and pubs. Some of the initiatives currently being discussed are chef demonstrations, tastings, a food market and dining events featuring Westport’s finest chefs. It is hoped that the recently launched Gourmet Greenway, Mayo’s food trail, will also play a role in the festival programme and there may be one or two surprises in store.
“We’re working on a programme that will accommodate families looking for a day out as well as foodies and we think all budgets and palates have been catered for. And yes, we hope a number of well-known faces may drop in over the weekend!” commented Orla O’Malley.
Watch out for more information on the festival in the coming weeks.