Sports Down Under is the founding area of the Australian Festival. Starting with a game in the park, a cookout, and a grand final party - the festival was formed with Australian Football as its backbone. Coinciding with the growth of Australian Festival was the growth of Australian Football in Nashville under the Nashville Kangaroos. From 1997-2001 Australian Football Tournaments dominated the Australian Festival until 2001 when limited travel (a week and a half after 9/11) created a need to expand to Cricket and Rugby. In 2005 netball joined the festival as 10 netball teams came from around the United States to showcase Australia's largest women's sport. The Australian Festival in combination with the Nashville Kangaroos revolutionized the presentation of Australian Football in the US with their famous game commentary which was always was a crowd pleaser. The Australian Festival was also instrumental in raising awareness of Collegiate Australian Football with Vandy Aussie Rules Club...

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. Sports Down Under will be the action packed sports field located on the right site of the festival with a spectator hill and also Jackaroos Pub and Down Under Winery within viewing distance.

We have approximately 50 hours of music, entertainment & presentations scheduled for this years event and 20 hours of sports demontrations (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 Sports Down Under 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 5 Sports Down Under available in 2007. We look forward to having a great event as we promote Sports Down Under to South Florida... 

Cheers,

Peter Beare, 2007 Festival Director

Sports Down Under Exhibitor Summary:

• Key sales, promotional and branding opportunities including Sports Zone

• Sports demonstration matches, exhibitions, and presentation opportunities.

• Target audience to establish and grow online customer base & sports base.

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

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

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

• Special Rate Festival Area Hotels & reserved camp-site locations - Camp Coolangatta.

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

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