Down Under Market Place is one of the festival's key components in delivering a truly authentic Australian experience for our patrons. From several Aussie retailers in 1999 to over 20 diverse organizations in 2005-2006 the Australian Festival provides a great environment for selling products & services while creating excellent branding opportunities. We also provide distribution & networking opportunities thru our Business Down Under Forum including product showcasing.

The festival now starts a new chapter in Greater Fort Lauderdale - Broward County. We look forward to showcasing products and services from the land down in our new location in South Florida. Fort Lauderdale is one of America's most festive cities. The city is known for its beaches, many bars, nightclubs, and overall party atmosphere. Broward County has approximately 1,750,000 residence and is made up of 31 city municipalities governed by nine Broward County Commissioners. Fort Lauderdale is the county seat of Broward County, and forms a part of the South Florida metropolitan area. We are also proud to report the Australian Festival has become members of both the Greater Fort Lauderdale Chamber of Commerce and Pembroke Pines Chamber Of Commerce which will help develop our networking capabilities in our new festival location.

This year's Festival will be held at C.B. Smith Park. The park is one of Broward Counties premier event parks and hosts several 30,000 patron plus events throughout the year. C.B. Smith provides a great location to grow the festival including a 4 acre festival layout that is transformed into key festival areas. The Down Under Market Place is located front and center and the first area a patron encounters when once they have entered the festival grounds. 

We have approximately 50 hours of music, entertainment & presentations scheduled for this years event (2007 Australian Festival Schedule - Format). We are estimating around 7,500 patrons in our first year but we believe this to be a conservative estimate due to the dense population in Broward County. There are an estimated 5,000 Australian ex-pats in the South Florida area per the Australian Consulate (Atlanta) so if all our mates show up it should be pretty busy (and loud). 

Please join us by submitting your exhibitor application. Our Down Under Market Place applications close on July 31, 2007. The official 2007 Australian Festival schedule includes expert exhibitor presentations that will be released on August 7, 2007. We have 15 exhibitor booths available and will be showcasing 25 products in 2007. We look forward to having a great event as we promote and showcase the Land Down Under to South Florida... 

Cheers,

Peter Beare, 2007 Festival Director

Down Under Market Place Summary:

• Key sales, promotional and branding opportunities.

• Target audience to establish and grow online customer base.

• Press promotions throughout South Florida, East Cost (US) and Australia.

• Highly visible Exhibitor profile promotion on Festival Website (and associated sites)

• Product showcasing opportunities available in our main Market Place Booth.

• Vendor/Exhibitor Parking (Private VIP parking area) with direct access.

• Variety of festival accommodations with a range of hotels & camping facilities.

• Connecting companies and products to South Florida business & public.

• 15% Discount to Down Under Business Forum & Gum Trees Gala.