SeaFest Peterhead will return to the Blue Toon next year after a highly successful debut in 2023.
About 14,000 people attended the inaugural event last September.
The celebration of local seafood was organised within the space of seven weeks by a small team of volunteers.
Their splendid efforts were rewarded when the event was crowned best new food and drink tourism experience at the North East Scotland Food and Drink Awards in May.
The SeaFest Peterhead committee, chaired by industry stalwart Jimmy Buchan, is now busy preparing for 2025.
It was decided to make the festival a biennial event to allow more time for planning.
Last time, activities were largely focused on the harbour.
Committee members hope to expand next year’s festival, likely to be on Saturday September 14, 2025, into the town centre to encourage more businesses to get involved.
Seafood celebration
It was Mr Buchan, owner of Peterhead’s Amity Fish Company, who thought of the idea of having a major celebration of local seafood in the Blue Toon.
But he never dreamed last year’s event would be as successful as it was.
He said: “Thousands of people showed up to support the festival.
“We’ll be forever grateful to all who came to celebrate our excellent fishing communities.
“We also can’t thank our sponsors enough for helping us pull off an event of this scale.”
Mr Buchan added: “We have a lot of ideas for our next event, some of which require a little more time for planning.
“As a result, we’ve decided to make the event biennial so everyone experiences the best version.
“We have a small committee who volunteer their time to organising the event. They have busy full-time roles and families, and we felt this decision was the right decision for all parties.”
How to get involved
Those interested in being involved in next year’s festival can register their interest by emailing info@seafest.co.uk
An annual general meeting will be held to make sure the event showcases the area and its seafood in the best way.
More than 60 businesses and local groups took part in the market area alone last year.
SeaFest Peterhead activities in 2023 included live cooking demos from leading north-east chefs, wild cooking workshops, free children’s entertainment, filleting demonstrations, charity raffles and an emergency services showcase, to name a few.
Aberdeenshire Lord Lieutenant Sandy Manson, officially opened the event, with the help of Peterhead Sea Cadets.
Sponsors included Peterhead Port Authority, Seafood Scotland, Peterhead Marquee Hire, ESS Compass Group, the Scottish Fishermen’s Federation, NESFD, Seafish, MacDuff Shellfish, the Scottish Seafood Association, Box Pool Solutions, the Scottish Fishermen’s Organisation, the Scottish White Fish Producers’ Association, Amity Fish Company and Seafood Ecosse.
More information on last year’s event can be found at seafest.co.uk
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