Sponsors are being sought for the 11th Isle of Man Food & Drink Festival.
The festival, run by the Department of Environment, Food and Agriculture (DEFA), takes place at the Villa Marina Gardens on Saturday 14 and Sunday 15 September 2019, and will showcase the Island’s wide variety of local food and drink producers and manufacturers.
The 2018 festival was the tenth anniversary and the largest yet, attracting more than 10,000 visitors as well as BBC One’s Countryfile presenter, Adam Henshaw as guest of honour. It is estimated that it is now worth £298,000 to the local economy.
Geoffrey Boot MHK, Minister for Environment, Food and Agriculture, commented:
‘The Isle of Man Food & Drink Festival is the showpiece event of Food Matters, our strategy to grow the value of Isle of Man food and drink; a sector that is now worth over £100 million to the economy. Visitors from both on and off the Island attend the festival to sample and buy the selection of local food and drink, as well as to enjoy competitions, demonstrations and live music.
‘The growth in the festival over the past decade demonstrates the increasing demand for Manx produce and products, offering a variety of opportunities to organisations looking to sponsor the event.’
The event is among the biggest held in the Island and in 2015 it won the PokerStars Award for Public Sector Achievement of the Year at Isle of Man Newspapers’ Awards for Excellence.
The 2018 Festival also saw Manx queenies voted as the Island’s new national dish and Darren Woods from 14 North awarded the Chef of the Year title.
Sponsorship packages for the 2019 Festival range in price from £1,000 to £10,000.
For more information on becoming a sponsor, please contact Lucy Verdon, Marketing Executive at DEFA by 31 January 2019: lucy.verdon@gov.im or +44 1624 687520.
Information about the festival can be found here: www.gov.im/food
