Success in the face of adversity - Eden Whale Festival draws crowds in despite challenges

Eden resident of 40 years Jenny Robb said despite the wet weather leading to much of the Whale Festival activities being cancelled, she found the events that did go ahead to be a "huge success".

"I think the festival committee did extremely well and I feel for them having been a committee member myself many years ago," Ms Robb said.

"You put all your heart into putting on the various elements of the festival and when it doesn't happen, it's pretty disappointing.

"But as far as the visitors and locals were concerned, I think what was delivered was excellent," she added.

Ms Robb said the standout event that drew a lot of people was the paella presentation hosted by celebrity chef Miguel Maestre at the Eden Visitor Information Centre on Saturday.

Miguel and his team of three chefs from Pambula and Eden created an Eden-inspired paella, that used freshly caught squid, ling and mussels.

"It was great to see a whole bunch of people, a lot of them were visitors to the area, watch as a master chef showcased all the local seafood products," she said.

Eden Visitor Information Centre manager Claire Mudaliar said from the three events they'd hosted over the weekend, each had been "really well attended".

"We estimated there was in excess of 250 people here for the cooking demonstration from Miguel Maestre," she said.

Ms Mudaliar said the events on Friday, which included the official opening and ticketed abalone event, were "very popular" as well.

Ms Mudaliar said her heart went out to the festival committee that had worked really hard to pull the festival together.

"They made some really last minute changes, collaborating with other departments to make sure that the presentation with Miguel went ahead and that's a real testament to their hard work and quick thinking for sure," she said.

Eden Whale Festival president Michael Sawers said he was proud of his resilient committee, which had put "so many hours of work" into the festival and had managed to work around the wet weather on Saturday to pull off some successful events.

"The events that we were able to move around, like Miguel's paella presentation, went extremely well and so did the art exhibition," he said.

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Mr Sawers said the decision to call off the festival had been a challenging one and upsetting for the committee overall, however it had been necessary.

"Our main drawcards like the sand sculptures, the wood carvers, kite displays and our entertainment was going to be jeopardised by the weather and as the afternoon went on we got more and more rain, so we probably would have had to pull the pin anyway," he said.

"In the grand scheme of things it was a hard decision to make, but it was also a smart decision."

Mr Sawers said despite the disheartening end to the weekend the committee members' resolve to start planning next year's festival hadn't weakened at all.

If anything he said they'd probably reach out to the community for members to jump on board so they can make it "bigger and better".

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"We've managed to knock this one over the line and we'll be back for next year, with hopefully even more committee members," he said.

"Just with a few extra people coming on board and spending a little time to help, it will make the festival an even better event, because more hands do make lighter work."