The iconic Queen Victoria Market has wrapped up its annual Donut Festival, and all reports indicate the event was a massive success, with a popular local vendor stealing the spotlight.
Once again, Lakes Entrance’s very own Big Bears Donuts proved to be one of the festival’s biggest drawcards, attracting long, eager queues of customers each day waiting to snap up their favourite treats.
Big Bears Donuts owner Ewan Fotheringham extended his heartfelt congratulations to his staff, praising the monumental effort put in across the entire weekend.
“Between all the prep, making the dough, cooking and decorating all the donuts,
and packing the trucks, our kitchen team worked almost continuously,” Mr Fotheringham said.
“They started at 5am on Friday morning and worked right through until 5am Sunday morning when our ‘reload truck’ hit the road.”
The hard work paid off significantly, with the stallholders recording next-level demand in the city.
“The crew that travelled to Melbourne absolutely smashed it out as well, serving 25 per cent more customers than we did last year. We aimed high this year, and our guys smashed it,” he said.
“Although the queue was long, our staff were amazingly efficient and kept it moving — they were incredibly fast.”
Mr Fotheringham expressed deep gratitude not only to his tireless workforce but also to the thousands of festival-goers who patiently waited in line.
“We had many Melbourne customers who regularly travel down to Lakes Entrance during the year come along to the market to grab their favourite donuts and say hello,” he noted.
He added that the benefits of the festival reach far beyond his own shopfront.
“Going to this festival is not only good for our business but puts Lakes Entrance on the map. We even made it to the national news on TV, which is great promotion for our area. Thank you to everyone for supporting such an amazing event.”
