Gourmet event moves to Castle Bay
The Margaret River Gourmet Escape’s Beach BBQ will move to Castle Bay permanently as the international event adds more Dunsborough venues to the line-up.
The inaugural event was held at Smiths Beach in 2012, but storm damage caused it to move to Castle Bay at the last minute.
City of Busselton events co-ordinator Shane Walsh said the 30m-40m beach had become an 11m beach overnight and hadn’t yet recovered.
“Obviously Smiths Beach has that majestic outlook, but low vegetation has grown over the sand dunes and the shape of the creek cuts the beach off, ” he said.
“We’ve been beaten by nature.
“The Castle Bay venue is a good chance to show off Meelup Regional Park, which is WA’s second most significant park after Kings Park with some unique flora and fauna.”
Mr Walsh said the move would bring more tourists through Dunsborough and 90 per cent of Gourmet Beach BBQ guests came in on buses.
He conceded costs would be higher to hold it at Castle Bay.
“Smith’s Beach is better set up with Lamont’s right there,” he said.
“There’s a lot more that needs to be transferred to hold it at Castle Bay.”
Mr Walsh said there would be a smaller Gourmet Escape footprint on the beach this year and it would remain accessible to the general public during events there.
This year’s Gourmet BBQ is planned as a seated dinner held over three days from November 21-23, possibly with a gala opening on Thursday, November 20.
Mr Walsh said additional events to this year’s Margaret River Gourmet Escape included an already sold-out function at Eagle Bay Brewing Co and one at Wise Winery near Meelup.
He said Gourmet Escape organiser Brand Events was in discussions with Clancy’s Fish Pub about another potential event there this year and with the City of Busselton about additional events in the region to be added to the Gourmet Escape schedule.
“In the longer term, the City is in discussions with Brand Events about the possibility of hosting something on the jetty and a couple of other locations to mark 150 years of the jetty next year, ” he said.
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