2023 NC EAT & PLAY SPRING ’23 HOOTENANNY & FOODIE FESTIVAL PRESENTED BY CHEERWINE
Creating FUN southern BRAND ENGAGEMENT.
NC Eat & Play’s Spring Hootenanny & Foodie Festival is back!
Saturday, April 15, 2023 at Phillips Farms of Cary.
The bi-annual event welcomes 1000+ ticketed guests to experience a uniquely southern celebration featuring farm-style, good, authentic family fun and music while indulging during a Foodie Festival with 30+ popular local food vendors, farmers, purveyors, breweries, and brands.
Beyond its immersive in-person experience, the content generated with the event earns 500,000+ views and reaches 100,000+ accounts. This includes but not limited to sponsor coverage, promotions, user-generated content, shared influencers, new coverage, and other PR.
THIS YEAR’S EVENT IS TAKING PLACE AT Phillips Farms of Cary on Saturday, April 15th, from 5-8PM.
With a backdrop, activities, and entertainment deserving of any hootenanny, there’s no doubt our Foodie Festival is a main attraction.
Please fill out the application below if you would like to join us!
Who didn’t go to the hootenanny?
This is the question on our minds after the success of our Spring Hootenanny. See what happened in the Spring of 2022.
Every day, NC Eat & Play highlights and celebrates local businesses and establishments in North Carolina to help thousands of locals discover great food and adventure. In creating events like the Hootenanny, our mission is to create a safe, fun, and deeply-rooted southern experience to gather, indulge and enjoy being a local wanderluster.
This year’s Spring Hootenanny & Foodie Festival is presented by Cheerwine, the south’s unique cherry soft drink. They will be joined by several other North Carolina brands and small businesses looking to safely engage with local families and meet the local community.
Back again as our Main Bite sponsor is The Butcher’s Market. All attendees will have The Butcher’s Market Signature Bite as part of their ticket package.
The Foodie Festival will start serving attendees at 5:30pm and go through 8:30pm. Vendors are encouraged to be fully set up by 4:45pm. Early set up and onsite storage available upon request.
Taste Samples
Food vendors should expect to serve small bite tastings for 1200 attendees.
All food must be cooked and prepared in your approved certified kitchen. No cooking on site is allowed – unless in a food truck or mobile unit with proper certifications and licensing and is approved by event producer. Samples are served at food stalls or 10×10 tents – each with access to power if requested prior to event. Warmers are welcomed. Food must be accompanied by intended utensils and plates or containers.
Let us know if you need a tent or table.
COST TO PARTICPATE
There is no cost for food vendors to participate.
Approved taste vendors are asked to confidently prepare and serve taste samples for a minimum of 1200 attendees, and to have the staffing for proper setup, event service, and tear down.
In trade for samples, NC Eat & Play is committed to promoting and highlighting your business in promotions prior to the event. After the event, each participating vendor will receive a special social media package worth $1000. See details from Megan below.
GROW YOUR BRAND
Vendors are able to promote their brand with banners and other signage at their food stalls. We encourage games, giveaways for follows and email sign-ups. Bring plenty of business cards or marketing materials to hand out.
The NC Eat & Play team will come by to photograph your stall and taste samples for event coverage.
All vendors will be tagged and linked in content produced by NC Eat & Play.
Please encourage tasters to tag your brand as well.
Hi, y’all!
Over the last few Hootenannies and Foodie Festivals, we’ve received wonderful and meaningful feedback to help make the event more successful. After Spring ’22, we made immediate changes to our layout, and ticketing and check-in process to eliminate long, bloated lines, and by Fall ’22 I’m proud to say the newer expanded layout and faster, easier check-in process worked well. This year, thanks to more feedback about the sampling process, we’re making significant changes to sampling expectations and processes for attendees.
Spring ’23 Sampling Process & Changes
- Vendors will collect branded vendor tickets for samples from attendees (1 branded ticket per vendor per attendee).
- Tickets for kids ages 12 and under are limited to 300 for this event. Kids will need a ticket for admittance, and will not be permitted to have samples unless purchasing a general admission ticket (which is counted into the total samples and branded tickets)
- Kids will have their own Main Bite and a dessert sample provided for them.
My team and I also recognize that this successful event comes with extra costs and time for vendors. To help offset this commitment, we are offering a special social media package to help your business stay in front of this engaged audience after the event.
- THANK YOU PACKAGE – $1000 value and our thank you – includes (1) Premium Instagram carousel (up to 4 images) social media post with (2) Instagram story shares and Facebook crossover posting.
This package is for your business needs and is separate from any event coverage. You’ll work with me and my team to schedule and create a campaign. Scheduling needs to occur within 60 days after the event.
We will also send out an invitation to attend a virtual call to go over the event and answer any questions you may have prior to it. This is voluntary but highly encouraged.
I want to personally thank you in advance for considering participating. If this is not your first time, welcome back! Thanks for your continued support and faith in us. I can’t wait to see everyone soon.
APPLY TO JOIN THE FUN!
We’re excited to welcome interested vendors to this event. Please make sure to review the details above and provide your information below. The NC Eat & Play team will review and respond accordingly.
Please note, this event is focused on a uniquely southern experience, but we anticipate our Foodie Festival to expand flavors mirroring our diverse local culinary talent. Selection is at the discretion of NC Eat & Play and our host partner, Phillips Farms of Cary.
We will make every attempt to reduce overlapping tastes and potential conflict when possible. We feel strongly in giving preference to our vendors that have previously worked with us, but that does not guarantee acceptance until notified.
Vendor Application Spring 2023
Spring Hootenanny 2023