Hervey Bay Seafood Festival goers split on ‘ridiculous’ costs for 2022

While some are still salty about the ‘ridiculous’ cost and offerings at the Hervey Bay Seafood Festival, others, including MKR star Steph Mulheron have defended the event amid a social media storm.

The Fraser Coast community is divided over one of the region’s most loved events.

It comes as My Kitchen Rules star and Fraser Coast Tourism Ambassador Steph Mulheron defends the event amid a social media storm.

On Saturday, August 13, thousands of people gathered at the Seafront Oval by the seashore for the annual Hervey Bay Seafood Festival.

Shortly after Fraser Coast Tourism and Events reached out to the community on social media, asking people to share their “genuine feedback”.

“Your feedback is extremely important to us and helps us to organise bigger and better events each year,” the post read.

Comments in response to the post were divided, with the price of seafood, cost of general entry tickets and less local seafood among key concerns.

Tricia Wilton is heavily involved in the Hervey Bay community, having lived in the seaside city 33 years.

The assistant secretary of Save Fraser Island Dingoes Inc told the Chronicle she longer attended the Seafood Festival, as she believed it was “not what is used to be”.

Tricia Wilton has lived in Hervey Bay for 33 years and no longer attends the Seafood Festival.

She said general entry tickets for this year’s festival, which were priced at $12 for adults at the gate, were expensive for an event which used to call for a gold coin donation.

“These are hard times, $24 for two people, I mean it’s just ridiculous,” Ms Wilton said.

“People can’t afford for two people, $24, to go in there and then spend another $50 on food.”

She would like to see gold-coin entry reintroduced and suggested Sunday would be a better day for the festival.

Ms Wilton was not alone in sharing her feedback on social media days after the event.

Facebook user Maggie Chandler said in a post, “Entry was too expensive disappointing seafood not much variety and way too expensive $12.”

Nisa Fitzgerald said, “I have not gone since it moved to seafront Oval. I like the one in Urangan. Lots of shades and trees”.

Zoe Boss posted a positive comment about the event and “thought it was a great day”.

“The music was fantastic, the fish tacos were delish and the mojitos were flowing,” she posted online.

Steph Mulheron, Fraser Coast Councillor Darren Everard and Dan Mulheron presenting cuttlefish with pepper at the Seafood Festival in 2021. Photo: Stuart Fast

Steph Mulheron from EAT at Dan & Steph’s told The Chronicle vendors did a “great job” of supporting the local seafood industry on the day.

“Just the fact that we’re back to normal, food bringing people together to have a good time, is what was amazing about the Seafood Festival,” Ms Mulheron said.

“Fraser Coast Tourism and Events have done an incredible job of pulling it together for our community.”

She also explained food vendors all bought local seafood to feature in their dishes – which was not cheap.

“We’re there to have a business and we’re there to create good quality food for everyone to enjoy,” she said.

When asked why festival-goers might have noticed an increase in prices at the festival, Ms Mulheron said the general cost of running an event like the Seafood Festival was expensive.

“For the entertainment and the seating, the toilets, the staffing … everything to create what was there on the day costs money,” she said.

Ms Mulheron said for a “$10 ticket” people were able to enjoy a “fantastic day”.

She thought the cost of seafood was fairly priced as businesses are not only trying to support the seafood industry but protect it, highlighting scallop farming has stopped on the Fraser Coast.

“There is a limit of seafood that we can get actually locally here,” she said.

Ms Mulheron said there were also only two local fisheries on the Fraser Coast who run 24 hour businesses.

Overall, she was proud of the event and that “food” could bring people together.

Christina Arnost and Rikki Devoijs enjoying fresh seafood at this year’s Seafood Festival.

In a statement, Fraser Coast Tourism & Events said 4000 people attended the 2022 festival, with more than 40 per cent of visitors coming from outside the region.

“This is the strongest visitation of any event organised by Fraser Coast Tourism & Events post Covid-19,” a statement read.

The bulk of visitors who attended the Seafood Festival from outside the region were from the Sunshine Coast, Brisbane and Gold Coast (25 per cent of pre-sale tickets).

General manager Martin Simons said in a statement the seafood industry had done an “amazing job” over the past 20 years putting the festival “on the map”.

“While there has been some social media comment, the number of seafood food vendors was up to 15 from nine last year, allowing more food options and shorter queues for visitors,” he said.

“Boat Harbour Fisheries tripled their marquee space from 2021, with 750kg of shell-on prawns, lobsters, bugs, oysters, and crabs available to purchase.”

To submit your feedback to Fraser Coast Tourism & Events, you can fill out this form.