WEYMOUTH’S waterfront will be making a splash with thousands of visitors from across the country this weekend.

The Dorset Seafood Festival, backed by the Dorset Echo, features more than 90 stalls dotted around Weymouth harbour.

With forecasters predicting wall-to-wall sunshine for the weekend and highs of 25C on Sunday, more visitors than ever before are expected.

The 17th century waterfront will play host to cooking demonstrations by top chefs and features an outdoor film screening for the first time.

The free event has become the town's biggest festival since it began six years ago.

It is the largest free seafood festival in the UK and was recently listed by a national newspaper as one of the top 10 food festivals in the country.

Last year torrential rain caused the first day of the festival to be a total wash-out.

Brian Cooper, a director of the festival, said: “The contrast between the weather this year and last year is amazing.

“We are looking forward to a continuation of this glorious sunshine over the weekend which is sure to bring out the crowds.

“We have some amazing stands and demonstrations planned.

“The whole team is gearing up for a great weekend.”

Showing how to serve up seafood in style will be Mark Hix, Mat Follas, John Wright, Lesley Waters, Russell Brown, Matt Cook and Duncan Lucas.

New events have been added to attract more visitors and keep them entertained into the evening. Wrack and Drift, organised by B-side multimedia arts festival, is a festival of live music, DJs and film, while during the day Seafish, one of the major partners of this year’s festival, will be hosting The Business Of Fishing programme in a tent.

It will highlight the importance of sustainable harvesting of the seas with a mixture of talks and cookery demonstrations.

 

  • AN EXECUTIVE private networking event involving businesses and VIPs from across Dorset will be taking place during the seafood festival on Sunday.

Held aboard luxury charter yacht 777, invited guests will have the chance to discuss business opportunities and prospects across the county. The event is sponsored by Ara wines and Brand Acceleration.


New Zealand wine company Ara is supplying drinks and Anna Wallace of Brand Acceleration will be attending. Ara wines has a stall at the festival and will be running a Savvy v Gris competition for consumers to vote for their preference and win a case of their favourite.
Details at 777triple seven.co.uk and arawines.com

 

ROADS TO CLOSE

 

On Saturday from 6am to 8pm and Sunday from 8am to 7pm, the following roads will be closed: Custom House Quay, Commercial Road at the Bridge tunnel only, Trinity Road, Trinity Street, Cove Row, Hope Street and Hope Square.