The Wine & Cheese Festival which made its debut at Eatyard, the street food market on South Richmond Street in Dublin 2 last year, has found a new city centre location at the Iveagh Gardens, where it will run over four days on Thursday to Sunday, August 8th-11th.
More than 6,000 people attended the event last year, when it took place in late March, prompting the organisers to look for a bigger venue.
Eoin Cregan, director of festivals and events at the entertainment group, Bodytonic, said: "Part of fun of Eatyard is thinking up monthly themed events and Wine & Cheese was one of the first. We just put up a Facebook event and people really got into it, sharing and tagging. We had thousands attending after a few days. We have big plans for this event and needed more space."
The event will bring together independent wine shops and farmhouse cheese and charcuterie producers. A tasting area will feature visiting winemakers and drinks experts. The Eatyard stage will host wine- and cheese-related entertainment, and Bodytonic will bring music and dance to the festival.
Wine sellers already signed up for the event include Green Man Wines in Terenure; natural and biodynamic specialists Quintessential Wines in Drogheda, and Irish online retailer Wines Direct. Sheridans Cheesemongers, Corleggy Cheese and The Wooded Pig are among the first food producers and sellers to back the event in its new location.
Tickets for the event are on sale from today and cost from €16.
Next month, Bodytonic and Eatyard will open a new Dublin venue, Jam Park, at Airside Retail Park in Swords. It is being described as "an adults' playground where you can eat, drink, play and dance, with crazy disco golf, live acts, ping pong, a singalong cinema, shuffleboard, flea markets, board games, all under one roof."
It will also have a restaurant, Eatery Park, which the promoters say will offer “diner food with Irish roots”, opening noon till late, with cocktails and candlelight after 8pm.
“Kicking off from the end of May, we will be hosting Market Park every Sunday at Jam Park, with 30 rotating food, drinks, craft and retail vendors, plus a mix of music, games and Eatyard and Bodytonic events,” Cregan says.
