From left, Catherine Zammit from the Malta Tourism Authority, Ivan Filletti – Field Marketing Manager at Simonds Farsons Cisk plc and Daniela Abela – Brand Executive from Vodafone addressing the press conference.

This year’s edition of The Farsons Great Beer Festival, launched during a press conference today, marks the 30th anniversary of an annual event that has become a fixture in the Maltese summer calendar. This year’s edition will be held at Ta’ Qali Park from Friday, 22nd to Sunday, 31st July 2011, and as every edition, promises great entertainment, the best in local talent, and the finest beers on the island. The festival opens at 8pm each night with Vodafone once again being main sponsors of this year’s edition. Entrance is free.

The Farsons Great Beer Festival was held for the first time in 1981 at Argotti Gardens in Floriana with subsequent editions held in Tigne in Sliema and at Ta’ Xbiex Marina. The festival has been held at Ta’ Qali Park for the last ten years, where it has grown into the largest summer festival on the island and has become one of the main events in the summer calendar with a great festival atmosphere and aimed at all the family.

Mr Ivan Filletti, Field Marketing Manager - Simonds Farsons Cisk plc commented “What started out as a small weekend event organised by Farsons to thank its customers thirty years ago, has grown into the largest event organised on the island, spread over 10 days with record attendances and live performances every night on two stages. Any 30 year celebration is certainly no mean feat and we hope to celebrate many more anniversaries in the years to come.”

“Every year we try out new ideas for the visitors to the festival and in fact, a new and innovative tool we have launched this year is The Farsons Great Beer Festival iPhone App. iPhone users can download it by searching ‘Farsons’ on the iTunes App Store. The app includes a map of the festival area, the schedule of entertainment on both stages, and more interesting features,” continued Mr Filletti.

The Farsons Great Beer Festival is enjoyed by people of all ages, and the open-air entertainment caters for everyone, young and old, making it a great family outing or night out with friends. Malta’s established artists and bands perform on two stages every night, however the festival is known to be a starting platform for many up-and-coming bands and artists who are given the opportunity to perform to a large audience.

In fact, for the first time ever, this year, due to the numerous enquiries we receive from new bands and artists to perform in the festival, we decided to collect all applicants and give them the opportunity to participate in an event to showcase their talent. Rock the Fest, a music competition organised in collaboration with Vodafone and Hard Rock Café, was held at Hard Rock Café in Baystreet throughout June and ended last week. Two winning bands, and a surprise third band, judged by local music professionals as well as public votes, have been given the opportunity to perform on the Rock Stage during the festival. The winning bands are Bridget Bone, 12th Ode and Plan Zero performing on Friday, 22nd July, Tuesday, 26th July and Friday, 29th July respectively.

“Vodafone always looks forward to music initiatives such as the Farsons Beer Festival. Being an energetic and young brand we identify with fun events such as the one organized by Farsons and thus it comes natural to us to invest in such initiatives. Music is the language that everyone understands irrelevant of any differences. Like Vodafone, music brings people together, so we could not miss being part of this event. We urge everyone to participate and visit the Vodafone stand to benefit from fantastic prizes and offers,” said Ms Daniela Abela, Brand Executive of Vodafone Malta.

The largest variety of beers on the island is available at the festival and includes local beer brands, such as the multiple award-winning Cisk range of beers: Cisk Lager, Cisk Export, Cisk Excel, Cisk XS and the newly launched Cisk Chill, as well as the classic beers, Hopleaf Pale Ale and Blue Label Ale. International beer brands such as Carlsberg, Budweiser, Guinness, Kilkenny, John Smith’s Extra Smooth, Beck’s, and Corona will be available throughout the ten days of the festival, as well as cider brands Strongbow and Bulmer’s Original Cider.

The choice of food dishes at the food court complements the beers and offers a mix of dishes from all over the world, including Maltese, Turkish, Chinese, Italian, Mexican food as well as other traditional favourites.

The official festival beer mug, collected by many year after year, is sold at the bars with the beer of choice or at the souvenir stall selling other special brand merchandise. This year’s mug bears a special commemorative logo marking the 30th anniversary of the festival.

Other sponsors of the festival include the Malta Tourism Authority, 89.7 Bay and Ice Watch.

For a full schedule of the entertainment and the latest news and updates please visit www.facebook.com/thefarsonsgreatbeerfestival.