The N.C. Blueberry Festival, Pender County Tourism, the Greater Topsail Area Chamber of Commerce and Burgaw Area Chamber of Commerce recently held the Eastern N.C. Events and Festival Consortium, in an effort to share large-scale event hosting tips and tricks.

Held at the Historic Train Depot, the free educational workshop was open to any organization that hosts festivals and plans events.

Tammy Proctor, director of Pender County Tourism, said the consortium offered a beneficial networking and informational workshop for a variety of organizations, including PTAs, and parks and recreation departments.

Participating groups shared best practices for festivals and events and other planning-related information. Appy City, a company that develops mobile apps, was also on hand to discuss free apps that are available regarding festival and event planning.

The consortium was started last year by Julie Beck, chairwoman of the N.C. Pickle Festival in Mt. Olive. She said she was pleased by the amount of knowledge that was shared through the various workshop sessions and their benefits.