Hop to Harvest set to draw big crowd

The Local Events Network is preparing to welcome what they hope will be a thousand visitors to a celebration of the region’s food and drink.

Now in its second year, Hop to Harvest hopes to continue on from last year’s success. The event will be held on Saturday 14 March at Rotary Park Reserve, running from midday until eight o’clock. “We have brought the date forward in the year to tap into that later sunset,” Emma Seddon, the Local Events Network President explains. This move is designed to encourage visitors to linger for longer.

The concept, she says, is simple but ambitious “bringing local producers and growers and chefs, distillers, brewers all together for a day to showcase what we’ve got here in Meander Valley in terms of food and drinks,” she says.

This year there will be 15 stallholders, a small increase on last year, with additional market stalls set up “just across the ponds” offering take-home items such as bread and bottles of spirits. 

The inaugural festival drew an estimated 800 people across the day. “And this year we’re expecting a small increase on that. We’re looking at about a thousand people to come through this year,” Seddon says.

For a town like Deloraine, she believes such events carry weight beyond a single Saturday afternoon.

“I think an event like this is really important for Deloraine. It helps put us on the map in terms of food and drinks. I think what we have here is really unique,” she says.

Events like Hop to Harvest, she argues, ripple outward. “Things like this reach the mainland and it increases tourism and it books out accommodation and is really good for micro economies in the whole of Meander Valley,” she says.

Her focus remains squarely on those setting up the stalls. “For me that’s most important for the vendors to do really well, and especially for all the guys up and down the high street as well to see an influx of people over that weekend,” she says.

The day is designed to appeal to families as much as food lovers. “Yes, so we have lots of free kids’ entertainment this year. We’ve got a face painter, we’ve got the circus coming again,” Seddon says. Live music will run almost continuously, with “three musos on throughout the day, starting at midday, finishing at 7:30pm.”

Entry is free, though attendees are encouraged to register online. “So you can register for your free ticket. That just helps our vendors gauge attendance. It’s a totally free event. Walk in, walk out,” she says .

Hop to Harvest is just one part of a growing calendar for the area. The group also has a winter festival planned for June, centred on truffles. “We plan to have a truffle focused festival. So we’re gonna have a little truffle trail,” she says . The two-day celebration will culminate in an event at the showgrounds, complete with food trucks, and a long table dinner curated by Luke Searson from Frank and Lotti.