18 May 2012

2012 Major Festival Sponsors   2012 Entry Fees Entry to Wine & Food In The Park 2012 is $15 if you're over 18 and completely free if you're under 18 (over-18s get a special wrist band that allows them to make bar purchases). This means a family of 4 or more can attend for just $30. What a bargain!!! Find out more about us on: South Burnett Wine South Burnett Tourism SouthBurnett.com.au South Burnett Biz

It's On Again So.... Bring A Friend! The 15th annual South Burnett Wine & Food In The Park Festival will be held at Memorial Park in Kingaroy right in the heart of Queensland's newest wine region from 10:00am to 9:00pm on Saturday 9th March 2013. Note: This website carries information about the 2012 Wine & Food In The Park Festival. It will be updated with details about the 2013 Festival from November 2012 onwards. If you'd like to exhibit at the 2013 Festival or become a sponsor, you'll find all Festival contact details on our Contact Us page. This year the Festival is more exciting than ever with a h-u-g-e line-up of live entertainment all through the day and late into the night. At this year's Wine & Food In The Park you can: sample great wines from the South Burnett's leading multi award winning wineries learn all about our regional foods and wines at the PCA South Burnett Regional Cuisine Showcase be entertained by 10 non-stop hours of live music from some of Australia's top music acts be amused by incredible street entertainers or Dine out at our exclusive Sample The South Burnett silver service dinner led by Peter Scudamore-Smith, Master of Wine (50 tickets only), or... try any of the wide variety of foods available on-site. Our site will tell you everything you need to know about who's exhibiting at this year's Festival. You can also obtain this year's complete entertainment schedule. And if you're visiting the South Burnett for the weekend, find out how to get here and how to make your stay as carefree and enjoyable as possible too. Click here to find out more.... PS: Never been to Wine & Food In The Park before? Then turn your sound up, kick back and watch this video to get some idea of just what a great day out it really is! (and a big thankyou to Darren Scott from Channel C for this) Latest Festival News Be The First To Try Our New 2012 Vintages 4th March 2012: One of the highlights of every Wine & Food In The park Festival is the opportunity to sample the latest releases from our region's winemakers in the Giant Wine Tent. The South Burnett's 2012 vintage has just finished. And right now the grape juice that will make next year's wines is fermenting in the tanks. But the grapes that were harvested last year have now finished their long trip through the winemakers' hands. And many of these brand new releases will be making their first public debut at this year's Festival. Some exciting new wines to look out for include sparkling and flat roses from Bellbird Vineyards; the striking new 2010 Barbera from Clovely Estate; great new releases from Crane Wines, Tipperary Estate, Moffatdale Ridge and Captains Paddock; and perennial crowd-pleasers from Bridgeman Downs and Kingsley Grove. Taste South Burnett will also be in the Giant Wine Tent selling a big range of locally-made liquers. And you'll also be able to find cheeses, fudges and delicious jams and chutneys in there too. Wine tastings in the Giant Wine tent are free from 11:00am until 6:00pm. And after the free tastings conclude, bottle sales and case orders will still be available right through until around 8:30pm. Photo: Food writer David Costello and winemaker Bernie Cooper from Crane Wines had an early taste of the South Burnett's latest releases at a Brisbane media launch for this year's Festival held at Clovely Estate's sumptuous Red Hill cellar door last Thursday. Their verdict? Sensational stuff! Find Out Why South Burnett Food Is So Mouth-Watering 3rd March 2012: The South Burnett is one of Queensland's major food bowls. And while most people associate the region with peanuts, many don't know that the South Burnett is also one of the biggest beef producing areas in the State. Our producers not only produce some of the best beef in the State, but also some of its finest (eg: Wagyu beef). And they produce many other types of foods as well. And if you're a dedicated foodie, you can find out a lot more about all of this at the 2012 PCA Regional Cuisine Showcase which will be running in the big PCA tent near the Food Court between 11:00am and 4:00pm. In the morning (from 11:00am through to 12:30pm) well-known food writer David Costello from the Courier-Mail will be bringing leading South Burnett foods producers on stage to get the low-down on beef, peanuts and other gourmet food products produced in the area. Then from 12:30pm to 1:30pm, Queensland's own Master Of Wine Peter Scudamore-Smith will be talking with three of the South Burnett's leading wineries about all aspects of the wine industry and the winemaker's art. And they'll be followed from 1:30pm to 4:00pm by five of the region's best chefs, who'll be demonstrating how they use local foods and wines to create stunning dishes - and how you can do the same thing at home too! The PCA Regional Cuisine Showcase is completely free and you can come and go as it suits you. But if you want to know more about food, wine and how it all goes together this is something you shouldn't miss!. Photo: Clinton and Tina Kenyon from Gordon Park Premium Meats will be appearing at the PCA Regional Cuisine Showcase this year to discuss South Burnett beef. They're one of more than a dozen speakers who'll be sharing their knowledge about South Burnett foods and wines on Festival day. Live Locally? Then Why Not Catch A Bus To WAFITP This Year? 25th February 2012: This year South Burnett locals who want to come to Wine & Food In The Park have a new transport option: buses! We'll be running two guest buses from Murgon and Blackbutt (and all towns in between) to the Festival this year so that guests who don't want to be the designated driver don't have to be! In addition, we'll also be running a special town bus that will operate on a continuous circuit from Memorial Park to five drop-off points around Kingaroy between 7:00pm and10:00pm on Festival night. A return ticket on either of our two special guest buses is iust $10 - way cheaper than petrol! - and the Kingaroy town bus will have a gold coin donation fare that will be donated to the SES. All three buses have been made possible by generous assistance from our sponsor Thiess, who are subsidising the costs by more than 50% to allow us to trial the idea and - at the same time - reinforce the message that Wine & Food In The park is all about having a great day out safely. However seats on the two guest buses are strictly limited (there are just 90 in all) so they need to be booked in advance if you want to be sure of a seat. You can get the guest bus schedules and booking details on this page of our website. UPDATE 3rd March 2012: The full schedule for this year's Festival buses was released today, including pick-up and drop off points. Seats for the Blackbutt and Murgon buses are filling quickly so please reserve yours ASAP to avoid disappointment. South Burnett Master Chefs Ready To Cook Up A Storm 14th February 2012: Five of the South Burnett's leading chefs will be cooking up a storm at this year's Wine & Food In The Park - and hopefully, they'll be doing it under brilliantly sunny skies! All five chefs will be making an appearance at the new-look PCA Regional Cuisine Showcase, demonstrating their culinary wizardry at matching local foods and wines. The Showcase will be led by well-known Brisbane foodie identity David Costello from the Courier-Mail accompanied by Master Of Wine Peter Scudamore-Smith. And Cr. Cheryl Dalton from the South Burnett Regional Council will also be adding her local knowledge and colour during the day too. The morning of the Showcase will be given over to short talks by South Burnett food producers (from 11:30am to 12:30pm) and they'll be followed by South Burnett wine producers (from 12:30pm to 1:30pm). Then the chefs will hit the stage between 1:30pm and 4:00pm to demonstrate some of the gastronomic masterpieces you can make out of South Burnett foods and wines, as well as show how you can create the same sort of magic at home. So if you're a dedicated foodie, make sure you don't miss this! Photo: Leading South Burnett chefs (left to right) Ben Best from Kingaroy RSL; Mike Giles from the Booie Bello Vista; Jason Ford from Kingaroy TAFE; Tim LaBudde from Kingaroy Kitchen and Jimmy Stephen from Accents Restaurant will all be appearing at the PCA Regoional Cuisine Showcase this year. 2012 Main Stage Schedule Now Online 9th February 2012: We're very pleased to announce that the Main Stage performance schedule went live on our website today. WAFITP's hard-working Entertainment Director Michael Monk has been burning the midnight oil to make sure all our acts lend just the right tone to every single part of the day. And we hope you'll be very pleased with the end result! This year's Festival will be kicking off with a mix of blues, R&B, latin and country courtesy of Blue Room Blues and The Rain. They'll be playing on the main stage from 11:00am right into the lunch time break. Then you can settle back for a great afternoon of country, calypso and swing from The Rain, the Jahbutu Calypso Band and the KSHS Stage Band - the perfect soundtrack for a laid-back day under the trees with friends and family, great wine and great food. But late in the afternoon things will really start to heat up when veteran bluesmen The Blues Excuse take the stage, then explode when the absolutely incredible Mason Rack Band tread the boards (see video). And both groups will do two sets over the evening to take things right through until 9:00pm at night. So come prepared for a great time! And if you want the Main Stage schedule or would like to preview any of this year's acts, you can get it all on this page of our website. Want Your Own Tent At WAFITP? Just Ask Us! 8th February 2012: Ever wanted your own tent at Wine & Food In The Park? Ever seen other groups with their own tent and wondered how they got one? We call these individual tents Corporate Tents. And for the last few years we've been quietly arranging them for social groups who've approached us for their school reunions or other social get-togethers. However we've never said much about them. And that was probably an oversight on our part (sorry!). So today we added a new section to our web site to explain what Corporate Tents are; how we approach them; and then explain how we can set up a Corporate Tent on Festival day for any group or business that wants one. We don't have a fixed price for Corporate Tents because each case varies depending on the size of tent you need and the facilities you want to have with it (eg: on-grounds security, catering etc). But - in general - they're not very expensive if you split the cost over the number of guests who'll be using your tent. So if you'd like a Corporate Tent at Wine & Food In The Park 2012, just call us on (07) 4162-3899 or email us before Wednesday 29th February 2012 to discuss your requirements. We're always happy to help! New For 2012: Catch A Bus To (And From) The Festival 7th February 2012: Want to come to WAFITP but worried about driving? Coming with a group of friends but don't want to be the designated driver? Well, your worries are over! This year - for the first time ever, and thanks to Thiess - we're introducing subsidised buses for guests who'd prefer to be driven to and from the Festival rather than drive themselves. We like all our guests to have a great time in complete safety. And we know that many guests really don't like having to be the designated diver for their group. So we're going to help! The Festival's buses will run from both the north and the south of the region to take guests from Mugon, Wondai, Blackbutt, Yarraman, Nanango and all points in between to and from each town's CBD to the Festival, and then back home again in the evening. In addition to this, we'll also have a Kingaroy city bus running between 7:00pm and 10:00pm on Festival day with five different drop-off points around town to assist locals and visitors get to and from the Festival (very handy for visitors staying in Kingaroy's motels and hotels over the weekend - but also handy if you'd otherwise be facing a long walk home). The final schedules for all these buses are still being arranged. But we'll publish them on our website the minute they're available and announce this on our Facebook page as well. So if you use Facebook a lot and haven't liked us yet, just click the button on our Facebook page (at left) to find out the instant these bus schedules are ready. This Year: Sample The South Burnett In *Real* Style 7th February 2012: Last year Wine & Food In The Park offered something really different for dedicated wine and food buffs: a Sample The South Burnett wine tasting master class led by Master of Wine Peter Scudamore-Smith with catering by Kingaroy Caterers. Guests at this ticketed event got to sample a large range of wines along with local foods. And as everyone who managed to secure one of the 80 tickets to this show will agree, it was a genuinely memorable experience - and a really great time too! In fact, we had such an overwhelmingly positive response to this concept that this year we've asked Peter Scudamore-Smith and Kingaroy Caterers to come back and do it all over again in an even bigger way. And what they've come up with is a brilliant three course wine dinner right in the Festival's grounds. There are only 50 tickets available for this dinner (at $55 per head) and they were released to the public today. So if you'd like to be one of the lucky 50 who'll have a night they'll never forget at this year's Festival, you should book your tickets ASAP. Because once they're gone, they're gone. And last year's 80 Masterclass tickets went very quickly indeed. You can book them by phoning Gaye Hobbs at Hobbs And Associates Pty Ltd on (07) 4168-5999 or by emailing her. Photo: Master of Wine Peter Scudamore-Smith and Sheree Strauss from Kingaroy Catering will be holding a special 50-seat three-course wine dinner at this year's WAFITP. And it should be a blast! SOLD OUT! All tickets to this event were sold out by Wednesday 22-Feb-12. If you're one of our 50 special guests your tickets will be arriving in the mail within the next few days - so get prepared for a really great night! Like WAFITP? Then Please Like Us Again... Because We're Changing Our Facebook Page 7th February 2012: Last year we created a Facebook page for Wine & Food In The Park and we were genuinely awed and humbled when more than 650 people "liked" us in a matter of weeks. Facebook is a really great invention and a terrific way to stay in touch with the things that interest you. But (as all Facebook users know) it's certainly not perfect. And that's something we discovered ourselves this year when we tried to alter our page's name from Wine & Food In The Park 2011 to Wine & Food In The Park 2012 to avoid confusing everybody. For reasons best known to themselves, Facebook changed their rules over the last 12 months and now they don't allow any page with more than 100 likes to change its name. So we didn't have any choice except to create a brand new Facebook page as our permanent, official home on Facebook (one where we won't have to alter the title every year). And to avoid polluting Facebook's search results and/or causing even more confusion for Festival fans, we'll be removing our old 2011 page in the near future. So if you were one of the people who "liked" us last year and want to stay in touch for this year (and future years), could we ask you to "like" our new page? It'll keep you up to date with what's happening at this year's Festival; alert you to important updates on our website; and instantly make you part of Wine & Food In The Park's special inner circle. Just click the "like" button on the Facebook box at left - or simply click here.

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