At the Grand Tasting event, LaCroix offered attendees free cans of sparkling water at a disco-theme bar. Brand ambassadors encouraged people to pose for photos against a pink backdrop flanked by oversize disco balls.Photo: Getty Images
NEW YORK—Every October, the New York City Wine & Food Festival (NYCWFF) is a constant for some 45,000 food-obsessed attendees to experience the city’s most delicious and trendy eats. But for its 17th edition, which ran from Oct. 17-20, the festival saw a change of scenery for the first time: A bulk of the festival events took place in Brooklyn instead of Manhattan.
The festival, which traditionally takes over piers on Manhattan’s West Side, jumped across the East River to the Invesco QQQ Festival Campus at Brooklyn Army Terminal. Located in the borough’s Sunset Park neighborhood, the 450,000-square-foot campus was home to a majority of the events, including mainstays like the Grand Tasting presented by HexClad and Rachael Ray’s Blue Moon Burger Bash presented by Pat LaFrieda Meat Purveyors, and new events including Gin & Juice By Dre and Snoop presents Brooklyn Eats & Beats. The campus was also a hub for sponsors including Russell Stover and Undeniably Dairy to interact with consumers through food-theme activations.
Festival organizers shared that the move to Brooklyn served multiple purposes. The sprawling, tented campus was designed to improve the guest experience by holding many events in close proximity, while the additional space provided an opportunity to expand and revamp returning experiences. The location shift also allowed the festival to highlight more of Brooklyn’s restaurants and chefs through borough-centric dining experiences.
Once again, this year’s festival supported charitable causes, particularly through its partnership with God’s Love We Deliver, a New York-based organization that provides meals and nutrition counseling to people impacted by severe and chronic illnesses. This year, Russell Stover and God’s Love We Deliver supported 1,500 volunteer shifts to provide meals to those in need. To date, NYCWFF has raised more than $14.8 million for its charitable causes, according to festival organizers.
“We couldn’t have been more thrilled with how our 17th year unfolded, especially with the festival’s debut in Brooklyn,” said festival founder and director Lee Brian Schrager in a release. “The incredible response from both locals and visitors was beyond what we had hoped for, and it was a true celebration of the city’s culinary diversity. We’re deeply grateful for the warm welcome Brooklyn gave us. As we look ahead, we’re excited to add more partners, talent, and brands from Brooklyn to make future festivals even bigger and better. Most importantly, we’re proud to continue our support for God’s Love We Deliver, whose mission remains at the heart of what we do.”
Keep scrolling to see some of the most innovative (and tasty) ideas from NYCWFF’s culinary experiences and sponsor activations...
