Newport Beach Food and Wine Festival to consider

There’s some rethinking to happen for the Newport Beach Food and Wine Festival.

Don’t get me wrong—for an attendee, the opportunity to taste everything that’s offered and not feel like it’s Comic-Con for food was great. There were no long lines—few lines, if any. And plenty of food and drink. And if you really liked something, you could go back and find it was still available. There was no Sophie’s Choice about which chef or restaurant to choose.

The set up was a problem however. First lawns and sternos don’t mix. Unfortunately there was a small fire at a booth. Quickly put out, but when the wind picked up—the event was held at the Newport Beach Civic Center with all the cooking booths outside—it fueled the flames. And then was on the outer section. Think what would could have happened if that occurred in the much tighter spaced tented area. Fire Marshalls are present at the larger festivals like LA Food and Wine and LA Times The Taste but mainly are checking for overcrowding. For this to be an issue on their doorsteps…

Attendance was moderate—most of the people picking at food were the volunteers. And they weren’t held back until a given time. The volunteers were the first to stop at each booth—the established fests would not have that. In fact, some may require that the volunteers change clothes. In my press memo, the information stated that it was a “world class” event in reminding people to dress appropriately. Neither attendees nor volunteers got that memo.

There was an outer area which opened at 11AM. Then there was the inner tent that opened from 12-3. The chefs were ready to go prior to that and some people popped into the area before the official open. There were also several tables present for a short period of time. And not all of the tables were food or wine.

People at the front asked that the wine glasses be returned. Never heard that one before.

I saw the media check-in people flip through the press list. It was quite extensive. I’m wondering how many people actually paid.

The fact that people were able to interact—sometimes too loosely for my taste—with chefs giving seminars was great. Sommeliers gave several presentations over the weekend which was great.

With some minor modifications, Newport Beach Food and Wine Festival can be the world class event it purported to be.