9th & 10th September 2023
Weymouth Peninsula
20 September 2018
The Dorset Seafood Festival was created in 2008 by Roger Dalton, of Brewers Quay, and Brian Cooper, MD of Resort Marketing Ltd. The Festival quickly grew into a high quality event of significant importance to tourism, promoting the resort of Weymouth as a centre of excellence for seafood.
A report undertaken in 2010 by Bournemouth University assessed the financial benefit to the town as over £1.5 million, and the organisers believe that in the eight years since, visitor numbers have more than doubled to over 50,000 people. People from across the country now visit Weymouth specifically for the Festival weekend. Winning several gold awards for ‘Best Tourism Event of the Year’ and the superb accolade of ‘Outstanding Contribution to Tourism’, the event continues to wow local residents and visitors.
In 2010 the event attracted the interest of Champagne Pommery, one of the top Champagne houses in the world, which saw a perfect match of Pommery Champagne with seafood and Weymouth’s magnificent old harbour. This partnership has lasted for 9 years, however draws to a close this year.
Nicholas Hyde, Chairman of Pommery UK, comments: “We are proud to have played our part in the development of this extraordinary event. For nine years Champagne Pommery and particularly its UK Director, Sara Hicks, has made a major commitment to a festival which has been an successful platform for our champagne and a great showcase for quality seafood and for Weymouth. We have thoroughly enjoyed our time with the Festival and will watch with interest as it takes its next step in 2019. We would like to thank all members of the Dorset Seafood Festival organisational committee and wish them luck for the future.”
Festival Chairman, Roger Dalton comments: “It has been a great privilege to have chaired the Dorset Seafood Festival for the last 11 years and work with the team to build it into the multi award winning event it is today. I have decided that 2018 will be my last year as Chairman, allowing my fellow director and Festival co-founder Brian Cooper to take on the role. It has been a joy and honour to work on this event and I would like to thank all those who have been involved over the years.”
Plans for the 2019 Festival over 13th / 14th July are in full swing, with conversations ongoing with potential new and existing sponsors.
Brian Cooper, who will be taking over the Chair in the coming weeks, comments: “2019 is an exciting year of development for the Dorset Seafood Festival, with our teams in conversations with exciting new brands, stallholders and content providers. Our link with the Fishermen’s Mission remains as strong as ever: the Festival will continue to raise funds for this important charity.
I would personally like to thank Roger for his great leadership over the past eleven years, and Champagne Pommery for its huge level of support. Both have played a huge role in making the Festival one of Dorset’s most successful events – we look forward to continued success in the future.”
Anyone interested in sponsorship should call Brian on 01305 770111 or email him at sponsorship@dorsetseafood.co.uk.
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