Eat, Drink, Play Gippsland Festival is celebrating food and music in Leongatha this spring
The inaugural event will bring together restaurants, distillers and wineries from across the region.
Jaci Hicken
June 27, 2025
The Eat, Drink, Play Gippsland Festival was launched at Fleet Wines, on the outskirts of Leongatha, on Thursday, 26 June 2025.
The Gippsland Monitor attended a preview of the inaugural event, which is coming to Leongatha this spring on Saturday, 18 October, and will transform the historic Railway Precinct into a buzzing hub of flavour, music, and community spirit.
The festival has been organised by Dan Sims and Rhett McLean, with support from the Victorian Government through its Regional Events Fund, and brought to life with the backing of local organisations including South Gippsland Shire Council, Destination Gippsland, and Wine Gippsland.
Eat, Drink, Play Gippsland organisers Dan Sims and Rhett McLean with Gippsland musician Misty Harlowe.
“Eat, Drink, Play Gippsland is an unapologetic celebration of the best food, wine, drinks and music talent going around, which just happens to come from Gippsland,” Sims told the Monitor.
“This festival is all about spotlighting the incredible talent that we have in the region and, of course, how they stand, not only on their own, but alongside some of the best in the state.”
At Eat, Drink, Play Gippsland, you'll find the very best food, wine, drinks, and music, including local cheese, breweries, wineries, artisans, and distillers, all showcasing what Gippsland has to offer.
Trulli put on a spread for the launch of Eat, Drink, Play Gippsland.
“If anything, it offers attendees who are coming here to the festival a snapshot of what the region has to offer, so that when they return home, they can start planning their next weekend in Gippsland,” Sims said.
“I’ve been running festivals for a long time, they are like an exercise in time where you get to see a range of different producers in one day, so you can literally start planning your next weekend and further explore.
“Because let's face it, there is a lot to explore in Gippsland.”
Organiser Rhett McLean is looking forward to providing music opportunities for local artists in the region.
“Having worked on the festival side, giving artists that platform to get in front of new audiences is critical, and it's something that this event, our day and night program, is doing,” McLean said.
“And hopefully we can lift our own Gippsland artists up to those headline slots in years to come.”
Eat, Drink, Play Gippsland will run over two sessions: a daytime session from 11am to 5pm, focusing on eating and drinking, and a nighttime session all about play and music.
At the daytime Eat and Drink session, there will be Trulli, Hogget Kitchen, and Messmates, plus pours from winemakers including Fleet, The Wine Farm, Dirty Three, Patrick Sullivan, Xavier Wine, Lightfoot Wines and more.
Michael Clark, Messmates Dining, Nick Nahlook, Sodafish, Trevor Perkins, Hogget Kitchen and Chris Odrowac, Messamtes Dining at the launch of Eat, Drink, Play, Gippsland.
Gurneys Cider, Loch Distillery, and Sailors Grave Brewing will also feature, alongside dairy delights from Gippsland Jersey, Prom Country Cheese, and Loch Cheese Merchant.
With live music from Misty Harlowe, Janie Gordon and Jungle Jim Smith.
From 6pm to 10pm, after a day of feasting, everyone can party with the Melbourne Ska Orchestra, Emma Donovan and Steph Strings.
Tickets are on sale here: https://events.humanitix.com/eat-drink-play-gippsland
Instagram: @eatdrinkplay_gippsland
