The Peninsula Picnic hosted at Mornington Racecourse yesterday welcomed a sell-out crowd of 4,500 picnickers, exceeding all expectations of event organisers. The most extensive food, wine and music gathering ever created on the Mornington Peninsula, showcased the very best local chefs, resident restaurants, expert vignerons and vineyards. Picnickers enjoyed perfect food, wine and weather to the soundtrack of Australia’s finest live music acts including The Waifs and Paul Dempsey.
Brodie Arnhold, Chief Executive of Melbourne Racing Club, is delighted to have hosted a successful non-raceday event, the first owned 100% by the club: “The Peninsula Picnic delivered on all its key elements; incredible food, wine, music and people, basked in beautiful sunshine. We can’t believe the event sold out in its first year but we have room to welcome more people next year as there’s space for us to expand around the racecourse. We’re excited for next year we’ll be releasing the date for 2016 shortly.”
Leading the culinary line up was Melbourne Racing Club’s consultant chef, Ian Curley, also the owner of Kirk’s Wine bar and executive chef at the European: “It’s great to be part of such a fantastic sell-out event from day one. Our menu of duck tortellini, Char Siu pork belly buns, and smoked braised rib of beef was extremely popular. We’re already looking forward to next year!”
Dave Strong, Creative Director for The Peninsula Picnic, was pleased with the look and feel of the first edition: “It was exciting to see all the best things about the peninsula come together in one place. The music provided the perfect backdrop to a sensational day attended by three generations of family and friends.”
A great effort by all!