SATURDAY'S food and wine festival was just a taste of bigger and better things to come.
Harbourfeast organisers say they have learnt a number of lessons from the running of this year's event and will be able to build on its success in years to come.
Saturday's festival was attended by more than 2500 people with organisers extremely happy with the turnout.
Exhibitors say the event far exceeded all expectations and have vowed to return next year.
And in a major coup for the region Harbourfeast special guest Andrew 'ET' Ettingshausen has also promised to return to the southern Shoalhaven and to film an episode of his popular fishing show in the local region.
Harbourfeast chairperson Margun Carless said the weather on Saturday had been perfect for a food and wine festival.
Even one of the entertainers described it as a "beautiful day to be alive in Ulladulla".
Families started flocking to the Ulladulla Civic Centre soon after the doors opened at 10am on Saturday morning and were keen to take advantage of all the activities on offer in the BIG4 Bungalow Park sponsored Kids Kingdom.
Lauren Venables and the staff from Seashells Child Care Centre helped keep a stream of youngsters entertained and many left with prizes generously provided by the Commonwealth Bank or with Funland showbags.
The bark art sponsored by the Milton and Districts Community Bank (Bendigo Bank) and cupcake decorating competition sponsored by Short Order Chefs proved particularly popular.
Festival-goers streamed through the Civic Centre throughout the day gravitating towards the food and wine stalls and the live entertainment on the stage outside.
Vendors were kept particularly busy throughout the afternoon with some selling out towards the end of the day.
Griff and Rosie Cupitt continued their recent run of success by taking out the inaugural ExServos 'Plate of the Day' with an arancini dish prepared in the early hours of Saturday morning.
Mountain Ridge took out the Milton IGA 'Wine of the Day' for a Semillon.
Other winners included Wlliams Drury in the Ulladulla Oytser Bar's oyster shuck off, Gavin Dorrell from Gav's Deli in the Stewart's Catering waiters' race, Dom Fondacaro in the Bunnings BBQ challenge and Hugh McBride and Mal McDonald in the Cupitt's Winery St Clement's Cup boules competition, played with oranges and lemons.
The Milton-Ulladulla Times' new mascot, Milton, had been hoping for success in the Times-sponsored mascot race but finished well behind one of the Bananas in Pyjamas.
On the stage, headline act Swing City proved popular with festival-goers - but so did all the local acts including the Pigeon House Jazz Band, Roddy Reason and Friends, Genevieve Chadwick and Santoza.
Penny and the Mystics have also established a strong local following and added to quality line up.
Secretary-manager of the Milton-Ulladulla ExServos, Darryl Bozicevic, described the festival as a huge success.
With more than 1300 adults through the door he said it was safe to estimate that more than 2500 attended.
"Comments have been very positive and the feedback has been great," he said this week.
"We believe this has laid the foundation for what will be a bigger and greater event in the
years to come."
Local traders also enjoyed increased trade as a result of the event.
AKWA surf had a stall inside the Civic Centre as part of Saturday's festival but also took double what they normally would at their Milton store on an average weekend.
AKWA's Matt Bryant said many customers had indicated they were either on their way to the festival or returning home after it.
He said those customers that had already been to the festival were extremely positive in their comments and were "all so pleased that such an event was put on in this lovely area".
Mrs Carless said most of the exhibitors had indicated they would be keen to take part in next year's festival.
The Rotary club has already started reviewing this year's event, looking at what worked - and what needs work.
Mrs Carless said all feedback would be taken into account in planning for next year's festival.
She was full of praise for everyone who helped make the festival happen.
“These events happen because of community involvement so a great deal of thanks goes to Rotary for running the festival, the Milton-Ulladulla Times for promoting the event and the Milton-Ulladulla ExServos for its sponsorship and support,” she said this week.
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