A Day In e Life

A Day in the Life

of a Welsh Food Festival: Gŵyl Fwyd Caernarfon, May 11th, 2019

As we hunker down for autumn, it’s worth re ecting on a successful Welsh summer. e fourth annual Caernarfon Food Festival - one of Wales’ biggest food attractions - returned to Snowdonia in May, powered by an army of local volunteers. Established in 2016, the rst ‘Gŵyl Fwyd’ drew 15,000 visitors, while this year’s event drew 60, 857 festival-goers. To put that into perspective, Caernarfon’s population is just under 10,000 residents, which – combined with holidaymakers - swells to an average daily number of 18,000 over summer. Described by festival Chairperson Nici Beech, as ‘bigger than the National Eisteddfod and Christmas combined’, editor Lowri Haf Cooke experienced this year’s ‘Gŵyl Fwyd’ to discover the secrets of this Welsh food fest’s success...

00.00

’Twas the night before Gŵyl Fwyd Caernarfon, and on every street people were dreaming of sun and all kinds of Welsh treats...’ Festival Chair

Nici Beech is sound asleep following a year of meetings and arrangements with an incredible team of volunteers. Secretary Eleri Lovgreen was spotted on the Maes at 19.30 guiding keenbean stall-holders to their spots, including Iwan

Davies of Welsh Luing Beef. Around 8pm, festival team-member Marged Rhys, was welcoming concert-goers to the ‘Noson 4 a 6’ (‘Four and

Six Night’) Candelas gig in town, noting, ‘ ere’s de nitely excitement in the air – and just a touch of anxiety! We learn more every year, so as far as we’re concerned, everything’s in place for tomorrow’.

A dream Caernarfon sunset is recorded at 21.01 in front of the Anglesey pub, which bodes well for the big day ahead. Gareth Fôn Jones – co-owner of

Tŷ Castell restaurant hotel - is enjoying the ‘calm before the storm’...

06.30

Team meeting on the ‘Maes’ – the central square in the shadow of Caernarfon’s 13th Century castle.

Stall-holders, including Red Boat Ice Cream from

Anglesey, and Becws Islyn bakery of Pen Llŷn are spotted arriving. Welsh Prifardd (Chief-Poet) Rhys Iorwerth is among the volunteers helping to guide stall-holders to their allocated spaces, speci cally noted on the committee’s ‘jig-saw’.

07.00

Daniel Owen arrives on the Maes to set up his stall from Let the Day Be Gin – he’ll be selling Anglesey

Môn Distillery’s products from Pentraeth, including Raspberry and Elder ower gins. One of his neighbours on the Maes is Hazel Jones, from

Chwilog. is is her 4th year at the Gŵyl Fwyd, promoting Aerona black chokeberry products from her farm in Ei onydd.

09.00

BBC presenter and comedian Tudur Owen broadcasts live from Caernarfon’s Sailing Club, not far from the BBC Radio Cymru entertainment stage.

10.00

e festival is o cially open! It’s a big day for the ladies of Teioni Kombucha of Gaerwen, Anglesey, as they launch their healthy fermented jasmine green tea today. Nearby on the Maes, Daniel Owen, from Let the Day Be Gin serves the rst Raspberry

G&T of the day at 10.45!

12.00

Festival treasurers Yasmin Khan and Trystan

Iorwerth, buckets in hand, are handing out food festival stickers to visitors, who are streaming into

Caernarfon from the Welsh Mountain Railway terminal entrance. ‘It costs £30,000 to host the

Gŵyl Fwyd, so if everyone could contribute a pound each, it goes a very long way.’ Towards the castle, visitors make a le at the quayside to visit ‘Lloc yr

Anifeiliaid’ (the livestock pen), provided by Coleg

Meirion Dwyfor’s Glynllifon Agricultural College – the ponies, the piglets and pigmy goats are a big hit with kids.

12.30

e longest queue on the Maes at the moment is

for the Welsh Luing Beef ‘Byrger Bendigedig’ for £5, just opposite the castle - they sell 500 before 4pm. ere’s also a line for Bangor-based e Veggieman Van’s Berlinerburger, and Moqueca Brazillian stew, in the shadow of David Lloyd George. e clouds are parting, and the sun is hotting up!

13.00

Award-winning bee-keeper Carys Wyn Edwards of Ganllwyd, Dolgellau, has a prime spot on the

Maes. Her Dy ryn Mawddach pure honey is selling well, as local choir Côr Cofnod belt out their lovely renditions of ‘Calon Lân’ and ‘F at

Huw Puw’ nearby. Down on the prom, at ‘O Dan y Don’, Lampeter-based Swshi have just sold out of their best-selling Chilli Salmon Roll. Rachel from

Newtown and partner Nathan of Haifa, Israel, are loving Dylan’s of Cricieth’s seabass tacos, along with the view towards Ynys Môn.

14.00

As the sun shines on the Maes, volunteer Kenny

Khan’s smile is as wide as the river Menai, and the demand is high for Anglesey ices! At Red

Boat Ice Cream from Beaumaris the ‘hufen iâ’ of the day is Lemon Drizzle, and the most popular avour at Môn ar Lwy from Bodorgan is Wild

Berry Panacotta. e local shops on Palace Street are doing a roaring trade, including Scoops ice cream shop, who can’t produce their Dragonfruit ice cream fast enough. As Eirian James of neighbouring bookshop Palas Print explains; ‘ e

Gŵyl Fwyd can only be bene cial to us; we’re all out on the street here wearing our businesses’ ‘best clothes’, enjoying the annual festival madness’. At

Palas Ca at the castle end of the street, they’re enjoying their busiest day of the year - well over a thousand ice cream cones are sold today.

15.00

At the entrance to the castle, a ‘Co Dre’ takes in the view of the crowds; ‘It’s like something out of Game of rones!’ Local YouTube star

Chris ‘Foodgasm’ Roberts is just nishing up his demonstration; his barbecued Welsh Black tomahawk steaks were gone by 2.30pm. Still, he learnt a lot from preparing his lamb necks last year; ‘ ey were gone in minutes at, so I did far more prep this time. For the rst two years of the festival, I was just here for the ‘sesh’. e crowds here are brilliant, and the re de nitely attracts people.

I always nd that great food brings great people together.’

16.00

Volunteer Marged Rhys is performing with her folk band Plu on the small open-air stage outside

Bar Bach. In the audience, festival chairperson Nici

Beech, is delighted with how the day has gone;

‘We’re always blessed with incredible weather, which de nitely helps, but it’s the people that make this festival a success’. Not far from the castle entrance, the Cwrw Ogwen team from Bethesda are almost sold out of Caradog golden ale. Down by the prom near the Anglesey pub festival-goers sit along the sea-wall as local pop star Meinir Gwilym blasts her anthem ‘Dybl Jin a Tonic’ on the BBC stage. Elin Tudur, from Cardi , travelled on the bus from Rhostryfan earlier today. ‘ ere was an hour’s wait to get on, and the driver waived the fee; the atmosphere was just like an old Sunday School trip, everyone was just buzzing on the way!’. Her friend Rhiain from Rhostryfan agrees that the event is an annual highpoint for Caernarfon; ‘I’m a foodie from the area, and what always amazes me is that there are so many local food and drink producers here that I’ve never heard of.’

17.00

It’s been heaving at the Cwrw Llŷn bar from Nefyn all a ernoon – according to manager Iwan Foel, 1,500 pints are sold before 5pm, with 550 pints of refreshing Largo Pilsner especially hitting the spot. e festival, now, is winding down, to give the town a chance to breathe, and to encourage visitors to spend their money in the local pubs and restaurants. As Richard Huws of Pant Du vineyard in Penygroes is packing up on the Maes, two last customers dash over to purchase bottles of his award winning cider and apple juice. He sold out of his new rhubarb cider earlier on in the a ernoon;

‘It’s the same here every year, customers go mad for new avours, there are more connoisseurs in

Caernarfon than you’d think!’

18.00

At the historic Black Boy Inn manager John

Evans re ects on the festival’s contribution to

Caernarfon; ‘ e day is de nitely a highlight for us, and for our foreign visitors, who are amazed to see so much happening on the streets outside. Just before Christmas in Caernarfon is always crazy, but this is a nicer event in a way; there’s not that same pressure, everyone’s happy in the sun, and it’s a great day out for the family’. Outside the Black Boy, Siôn

Owen from Treorchy, is on the hunt for some food.

‘I drove up this morning, arrived around 1pm, full of plans to eat my way around Caernarfon. I didn’t get a chance, as I saw six di erent butties from south Wales on the prom, so all I’ve done is drink a few pints and catch the sun!’. As the festival is now over, bookseller Eirian James shares some local post-pub tips; ‘You’ll nd the best sh and chips at Ainsworth’s, or if you’re a er a kebab, then you can’t beat Caernarfon Kebab – the meat’s from ‘Wil

Bwtch’, OG Owen and Son butchers, over the road.’.

19.30

She’s not wrong – and as one local remarks,

Caernarfon Kebab is ‘boncyrs’ inside, and everyone wants ‘sôs coch’ (tomato ketchup) with their chips, before heading on out for the night. Two policewomen greet local families with a ‘Haia, da chi’n iawn?’ during their evening stroll, as pubgoers spill out on Caernarfon’s ‘piazza’, the Maes.

All is right in the world as the sun continues to shine on happy customers in front of e Anglesey and the Palace Vaults. Needless to say, following a rip-roaring day, the evening in Caernarfon has just begun...

Photos by Iolo Penri. For more information, go to www.gwylfwydcaernarfon.cymru