Northern NSW’s premier food event, Sample Food Festival is returning to the Bangalow Showground on Saturday 4 September 2021, but if this news is triggering your lockdown-related-festival-cancellation anxiety disorder, don’t worry – in the event of a cancellation, refunds will be issued.
The 10th Anniversary edition of Sample Food Festival will feature a lineup of special guests, along with a selection of the region’s best restaurants, breweries, distilleries, local market stalls, and a series of workshops and pop-up events to be announced. The festival has also introduced a number of initiatives this year to allow visitors to plan ahead and enjoy a safe and comfortable festival experience.
For the first time, Sample Food Festival will be offering three ticketed time slots to the event with pre-purchased tickets available along with pre-order menus and QR menu ordering options. Limited capacity picnic experiences will also be on offer for groups of up to six and include festival entry, a reserved picnic spot in the main food precinct with Wandering Folk picnic rug, and umbrella hire. There will be extra room around the festival site for attendees to bring their own picnic rug too.
This year’s headliner is Australia’s number one vegan chef, Shannon Martinez, owner of prolific plant-based businesses; Smith & Daughters and Smith & Deli, who will be joined by recent announcement Adam Liaw – cook, columnist, and host of the popular television series The Cook Up with Adam Liaw and Destination Flavour. Byron Bay’s own Magdalena Roze will also be joining the lineup of special guests.
Sample Food Festival was established in 2011 to showcase the incredible produce, chefs, restaurants and creative talent that makes northern NSW so unique. Ten years on, it’s become even more essential than ever to invest in quality, local produce and support local farmers, restaurateurs, makers, artists and communities.
This year Sample Food Festival has received support from the NSW Government’s Regional Events Acceleration Fund to help make the event more exciting than ever. Event Director, Rose Taylor, is thrilled that the festival is returning to the Northern Rivers in 2021: ‘There are so many incredible new restaurants and businesses who have opened since Sample 2019 and we couldn’t be prouder to showcase them amongst so many of our long-standing favourites. We understand planning can be tricky in COVID-19 times and we have been busy making Sample 2021 as safe and fun as ever. The event may look a little different this year, but we have made sure there will be so many more opportunities to connect with your friends and family at the event; sample our region’s finest, and get your hands dirty with some incredible workshops. We can’t wait to welcome the community to the Bangalow Showground to celebrate Spring and our local chefs, restaurants, distilleries, producers, brewers and creatives; who have continued to work so hard to be there for us throughout these challenging times.’
Sample Food Festival 2021 attendees can look forward to $5 and $10 tasting plates showcasing the menus from some of the region’s finest restaurants including; Harvest Newrybar, Shelter Lennox Head, Beach Byron Bay, No Bones, Forest Byron Bay, Karkalla Byron Bay and Mercado Juarez. In a new initiative for the festival, the Hunter Valley restaurant Muse Kitchen and head chef Josh Gregory will also be attending as a special guest restaurant this year. Palate cleansers from Stone and Wood Brewery, Treehouse Cider, our beautiful Cellar wine bar & local boutique distilleries. Over 100 lifestyle stalls will be featured at this year’s festival, celebrating the region’s creative makers and producers. Live music and children’s activities will be announced closer to the event, alongside workshops and pop-up events.
For information on tickets, further announcements, festival workshops and updates visit www.samplefoodevents.com.
