Big plans for Wynnum Manly Seafood Festival after successful first event

There are already plans to expand a seafood festival on brisbane’s bayside after a successful first event which more than 10,000 people are believed to have attended.

The crowd at the Wynnum Manly Seafood Festival. Picture: Supplied

ORGANISERS of the first Wynnum Manly Seafood Festival are already planning a bigger event for next year following the huge crowds and success of the festival this week.

More than 10,000 people were believed to have attended the festival, held at Manly’s George Clayton Park on Monday and hosted by OzFish Unlimited, far exceeding the maximum of 2000 people organisers had planned for.

As a result of the huge crowds, there were delays in ordering food as well as some vendors running out of fresh seafood.

Robbie Porter, president of OzFish’s Moreton Bay chapter, said he was shocked but thrilled at the success of the event.

The OzFish crew at the Wynnum Manly Seafood Festival.

“There’s no way we expected that many people,” he said.

“It just shows that there is definitely a want for an event like this in the area.

“We’re thankful to the people who attended and understand there was a bit of a wait sometimes … We probably didn’t have the volume of vendors to cater for that many people.”

Mr Porter said there were already plans to expand the festival next year.

“We’ve already thought about plans to take out the street in front of George Clayton Park and extending it to the foreshore as well,” he said.

“There’s definitely the need for it after the amazing turnout we had on Monday.”

Mr Porter said one of the best things about the day was being able to bring people to the area to benefit local businesses.

People attending the Wynnum Manly Seafood Festival. Picture: Supplied

“I know a lot of businesses, especially some pubs had a massive day on Monday, which is great,” he said.

“Some even ran out of food I have heard.

“It’s great that we were able to bring people to the bayside and the fact it resulted in a busy day for local businesses.”

Labor city councillor for Wynnum Manly Peter Cumming congratulated the organisers of the festival.

“Thousands of people attended and many thousands were raised on the day. There were market and food stalls galore and the bar did a roaring trade,” he said.

Everyone involved in the running of the festival were volunteers and all the proceeds will go towards restoring Moreton Bay.