34 Each year, gourmet street stalls and award-winning local wineries would line Ogilvie Street that closed for the day of the event, allowing attendees to wander from stall to stall, tasting and eating their way down the street. It’s been six years since the popular wine and food festival has been held after the pandemic put it on hold. But it’s back November 2, 2024, with a twist. The event will not only celebrate local wine, produce and providores, it will also feature Muswellbrook Shire Council’s Blue Heeler Film Festival with the awards night, music, street theatre and screenings of the film entrants on the 1st and 2nd November for the inaugural Denman Wine Food and Film Affair. 2024 will be the 11th year for the Blue Heeler Film Festival. The theme is ‘Country’ aiming to inspire films that celebrate the beauty of landscapes whether it be historical, environmental, personal, or a spiritual connection people have with the land or their country. Festival Director and project manager for the Denman Wine Food and Film Affair Stephen Wright said they decided to build the 2024 film festival into the Wine and Food Affair to elevate the event even further for its comeback. “Being Festival Director for the last few years I really tried to look at an opportunity to give more access to the finalist films. We have the awards night but building the film festival into the larger event gives us a platform to screen all the finalists throughout the event exposing new and emerging filmmakers to a much larger audience. “The awards night has become a big event on our calendar, a must attend, so this year we are taking it out to Two Rivers, and it will be quite spectacular.” A $150,000 grant from the NSW Government’s Open Streets Program, led by Transport for NSW, enabled the collaboration between Muswellbrook Shire Council and the Denman Chamber of Commerce to combine the two events into a not-to-be-missed weekend of festivities. “The festival has a place in the heart of locals and in partnering with the Denman Chamber of Commerce we are working hard to make sure we include all the elements that people know and love from the original event while taking it to the next level. “It will follow the similar format of the last event in 2019. We are however expecting much larger crowds, there were about 8,000 at the last event and we’re expecting to see about 10,000 this time. “The focus is always on the local vendors and wineries. Two Rivers, Hollydeen and Small Forest will be the wineries part of this event and there are some emerging gourmet businesses and food providers in the region that will be featured quite prominently, and we have expanded it out to cover the entire Hunter region,” said Stephen. The event will showcase a lineup of both local and headline musicians, including an artist with a long history with the event scheduled to perform. Muswellbrook Shire Mayor Steve Reynolds has been a long-time resident of the region and is excited to see the event back on the calendar. “The Festival is going to be bigger, and better this year. “I would encourage anyone to get out here, it’s going back to its roots and its fantastic Council, and the Chamber have decided to bring it back. “Incorporating it with the Blue Heeler Film Festival will bring a different niche to the festival as well, because we have the films and the actors there, so it’s one big celebration.” The Denman Wine Food and Film Affair is on 2 November on Ogilvie Street. Best of all, the event is FREE. POPULAR EVENT MAKES A RETURN The Denman Wine and Food Affair has a long history in the Upper Hunter, with the first ever event held in 2004. It started with 11 stalls and between 500-800 people came, and each year it grew, getting increasingly popular with thousands of people travelling from all over to attend when word got out about how wonderful it was. WINE, FOOD & FILM AFFAIR
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