Edabl’s Seafront Sunday gets swinging after a soggy start
THERE was a soggy start to this year’s Seafront Sundays after a downpour coincided with its opening time.
But an hour or so later the rain had gone, the sun shone and Eat Drink and Be Local’s street party was able to get into full swing.
Edabl committee member James Meller said the aim was to line the pier with tables and chairs to encourage the party atmosphere, with local musicians playing at one end to add to the mood.
‘It’s the first one of the season and we’ve got a lot of new stallholders here,’ he said.
Chairman Luke Wheadon said the number of chairs and tables had increased over the years that the group had been involved. ‘We started out with 150 but now there are 600.’
Among the new faces at this year’s event was the Baan Thai restaurant which was bringing a popular Asian drink to the day – bubble tea.
‘It’s huge in Asia,’ said Saitona Mauger. ‘We brought it from Taiwan and I had to fly to Thailand to learn how to make it.’
The restaurant had decided to make its Seafront Sunday debut to attract a younger clientele using the drink.
Ginette Bader and husband Chris from Bean 14 had been to the foodie Sunday before but this year they were promoting Granite Goat, which Mrs Bader said was a special branch of the company providing small quantities of coffee sourced from a variety of countries.
‘It’s such a nice atmosphere and nice seeing all the chairs and tables fill up in the sunshine,’ she said.
Coming back to Seafront Sunday for the second year was Margaret Robilliard, who was selling Soapy Goat-branded special soaps on the same stall as her son-in-law Andy Travis was selling wooden gifts under the name of Papa’s Workshop.
‘We only come to the Edabl events because you tend to find more people who are interested in things other than food,’ said Mrs Robilliard, who took over the soap business when the previous owner retired two years ago.
‘We used to try and catch the cruise ship passengers but they kept changing the dates.’
