From left, Thomas Dimech, Commercial Manager – Arriva, Maria Vella Galea, Brand Manager – Vodafone Malta, Ivan Filletti - Field Marketing Manager, Simonds Farsons Cisk plc, Catherine Zammit – Assistant Manager, Communications & PR – MTA
The 32nd edition of The Farsons Great Beer Festival was launched today during a press conference held at Hard Rock Café at Baystreet. This year’s edition of Malta’s most popular outdoor festival will run from Friday, 27th July to Sunday, 5th August at Ta’ Qali Park, starting at 8pm every night. Entrance to the festival is free of charge with parking available in the vast parking area outside the Park.
The Farsons Great Beer Festival offers the best local and international beer brands on the island coupled with the best in local entertainment. The main sponsor for this year’s edition of the festival is Vodafone. Other sponsors of the festival include Gasan Enterprises, 89.7 Bay, Malta Tourism Authority, Classic Group and Ray Ban.
“The Farsons Great Beer Festival is Malta’s largest outdoor festival and the only one that runs for 10 consecutive nights. The festival is always very well attended and the great festival atmosphere attracts both families as well as youths on a night out, breaking attendance records every year. As always, entrance to the festival remains free of charge even though the costs to set up such a festival on such a large scale make it an enormous challenge,” said Mr Ivan Filletti, Field Marketing Manager at Simonds Farsons Cisk plc.
Among the very best local beer brands available at the festival is the award-winning Cisk family: Cisk Lager, Cisk Export, Cisk Excel and Cisk Chill, launched last year and enthusiastically received by consumers. Classic beers Hopleaf Pale Ale and Blue Label Ale will keep the beer drinking tradition alive.
International beer brands include Carlsberg from Denmark, Budweiser from the US, Guinness and Kilkenny from Ireland, John Smith’s Extra Smooth from the UK, Beck’s from Germany, and Corona from Mexico as well as English and Irish ciders brands Strongbow and Bulmer’s Original Cider. And for the first time this year, a range of international specialty beers will also be available in the international bar area.
A food court will complement the various beers on offer. The 2012 official festival mug is available from most of the bars at the festival.
“Once again we have scheduled the very best of Malta’s artists and bands for both the Main and Rock Stages. This year we are also presenting three foreign acts, International Diamond Thieves, St Matthew, and Canvas Wall. However as always, the focus remains on local talent and artists, who consider the festival their best gig of the year. Proof of this is the Rock the Fest event which we started last year, aimed at discovering new bands in order to give the winners space on the prestigious Rock Stage of The Farsons Great Beer Festival,” continued Mr Filletti.
“Vodafone is present in all the major events this summer, including the Isle of MTV, the Joseph Calleja concert and obviously we could not miss the Farsons Great Beer Festival. For another consecutive year, Vodafone is glad to be the main sponsor of the most sought festival on our islands. Since The Farsons Great Beer Festival is one of the main social events in Malta we will be present with an even bigger stand, providing the latest offers, products and services to our customers. We are working hard to make this year’s presence at the Beer Festival another massive success,” said Maria Vella Galea, Brand Manager at Vodafone Malta.
ROCK THE FEST – THE ROAD TO THE FARSONS GREAT BEER FESTIVAL
The second edition of Rock the Fest was held at BJ’s Club this month. Rock the Fest gives new bands that have never performed at The Farsons Great Beer Festival the opportunity to participate in a competitive event that leads to the winners performing live at Malta’s largest festival. Participants are judged by a panel of local music professionals, and the three winning bands to play on the Rock Stage were announced last Friday. seriousz fUNK and Aces Shade will play on Sunday 29th July whilst Twenty Six Other-Worlds will play on Thursday, 2nd August.
PUBLIC TRANSPORT ARRANGEMENTS
An agreement has been reached with Arriva for the provision of public transport to and from Ta’ Qali. As exclusive transport provider for the festival, Arriva is offering a shuttle service to the festival (bus stop outside American Embassy) from Bugibba and Valletta bus terminals at a charge of €2.50 for a round trip. The charge includes the fare from any town/village into Valletta or Bugibba, the shuttle and the return journey home. Arriva will also offer a night service from Ta' Qali Park to St Julian's and Bugibba bus terminals between midnight and 1am. From these points a connection to the regular night service network can be made. Notices for passengers’ information will be put up at each terminus. More information is available on http://www.arriva.com.mt/. The Arriva customer care centre may be contacted on 21222000 for additional assistance.
“As part of our ongoing commitment to promote responsible drinking, we encourage visitors to the festival to make use of this special service being provided by Arriva,” concluded Mr Filletti.
Follow The Farsons Great Beer Festival on Facebook: www.facebook.com/thefarsonsgreatbeerfestival for the latest news and information, or download the official festival app, this year available to both iPhone and Android users from the 25th July.