AN ENORMOUS crowd flocked to the small township of Batlow on Saturday to taste the flavours the region has to offer in the wake of this year’s cider production.
While the official attendance is still being calculated, organisers think this year’s weather forecast put some people off, yet numbers are still thought to have topped 5000, with several states represented by cider enthusiasts.
Batlow CiderFest marketing coordinator Harald Tietze said the festival’s atmosphere had not been dampened, and they were thankful the rain held off.
“We were a little bit down given the expected rain, however, most of the stall holders I talked to believed there were around 5000 people,” Mr Tietze said.
With about 80 stall holders offering up the region’s freshest produce – from mulled cider to chips on a stick – the variety extended beyond edible, featuring handmade timber products and dog coats, among others.
A cider industry conference on Friday before the festival was a full house, and growers and shareholders discussed Batlow’s future.
“The conference was excellent, we got really good feedback from everyone that was there,” said Mr Tietze.
“It’s ‘excidering’ to see how many people we had there and how many were interested in the build up of farm-gate marketing around the region, with the aim of everyone treating the region as one big cider centre,” he said.
Batlow cellar door is a new initiative discussed at the conference, a hub where all cider companies from the area will be able to sell their produce, as well as beer from Tumut and wine from Tumbarumba.
The “Living Food” conference, the third and final part of the 2017 CiderFest, kicks off this Saturday.