The rain held off – and thousands flocked in.
Nantwich Food Festival is once again proving a massive hit, as these pictures prove!
The town centre was packed to its black and white rafters today (September 5) as families young and old flocked to sample culinary delights galore.
With hundreds of stalls and traders, dozens of food outlets serving up dishes, and stacks of live performers around the town, there has literally been something to suit all tastes.
It kicked off yesterday (September 4) with entertainment from Nantwich Young Voices, the Weaver Vocal Group (trained by chart topper Thea Gilmore), Miss Jolene’s School of Dance and Pritchard’s Dance Academy trained by AJ & Chloe from Britain`s Got Talent.
Performers from Pastiche have been appearing all around the festival. Fire eaters, stilt performers, magicians and more have been wowing people during the day and evening.
Nearly 200 different traders are attending this year, making the Nantwich Food Festival one of the largest of its kind in the UK.
Director John Coulter, who masterminded the visiting traders, said: “Because the Nantwich Food festival has such a brilliant reputation we can be choosy about which traders come.
“All places are taken this year and we have an amazingly high standard of exhibitors many of who are new to Nantwich.
“High-end designer Nick Monro has been showing products normally found in Harrods, local cheesemakers Helers are showing their latest range, Bongo Rock and Roll Pickles from Delamere are there, local ciders, honey, beers and not so local champagne and artisan gins will be available as well as exhibitors from all over the world and a few retuning favourites.”
Two large food courts, sponsored by Mornflake and Bentley, have been laid out, on the Bowling Green and Love Lane car parks, with live music stages alongside hosted by Redshift and Silk 108.9.
Charity Park and Rides have been organised at Brine Leas School, The Barony and Nantwich Town Football Club.
Festival committee chair Deborah Robb said: “Visit the festival and return during the weekend there will be lots of events detailed in the Stop Press leaflet or online – or chat to the volunteers who work at this festival which is entirely run by volunteers!”
And the festival continues tomorrow (Sunday September 6)
(All pictures courtesy of Nantwich Events Photography)
What a lot of visitors to the festival don’t see or realise is the amount of effort and man hours that go into organising this fantastic event which is also FREE to attend.It is run completely by volunteers who give up their time for FREE to showcase our town because we are proud of it.
This person must be blind or what!! Two hours to find food? All I would say to this person is WALK around and open your eyes!! You can still hear/see the entertainment..
Thank you for highlighting the fact I am blind, what a charmer you are!!
If I was then you are having a childish dig at the disabled.
The reason I failed to find food for two hours was I started at dysart buildings, and spent a long time there as the children loved it, the displays there were excellent, BUT NO FOOD, apart from raw veg and herbs.
Then we walked around the church, to the square, there were no food stalls there until Sunday, the only food was a couple of icecream stands and a pie one, then we arrived at reasheath college two hours later and found cheese, veg and a little girl making biscuits, lovely. NOW THAT TOOK US TWO HOURS WITH THREE CHILDREN. We then found Bentley food tent up the road.
SATISFIED?!!!!
My point was if you can actually read is there was a lot more festival activities this year,
I can’t believe anyone would criticise what we have seen over the last three days. Even if there were some rough edges (which I didn’t see at all) Nantwich has punched massively above its weight with an event that would have been the pride of any other town. I am so pleased to live in such a beautiful town that organises such magnificent events, and long may they continue. Well done to all, and thanks to the volunteers who did such a good job.
Yes it was a fantastic show, yes the food was everywhere but to be fair it was either mostly in a court or a tent.and yes there were far more activities going on which were not food related, but added to the fun of the day.
What I also noticed was many shops were not open, I would say that in itself is something that needs discussion, I was not criticising, but I do have a valid point!!
Many shops had not bothered to enter into the spirit of the weekend and let down the hard working folk who came along and made the show a success.
I will not name names, but unless you have a table outside your shop with something to do with food, you are hardly participating are you?
I loved the guy at chatwins making a pie, the butchers with a pan of fab sausages to eat the specialist beer company at blooms, these come to mind as they are shops, who wanted to add their fun for the day, fantastic!!
They will be the companies I go to, not the ones who could not be bothered, it’s all about goodwill and tourism.
Hear hear. Great event.
I went to all three days, Friday many food outlets closed early, Saturday had less stalls on the street around the church, and an empty tent by the church, but by Sunday the market traders had filled the street, and it was great.
Mind you the Sunday start really was 10.30 not 10am, but everyone was very helpful.
The volunteers were wonderful in their duties, and a massive thank your should go to them for their hard work. I didn’t see a single sweet wrapper on the ground, great tourist attraction.
Didn’t like the massive food lecture tent, it was never full, and smaller stands with various chefs may have worked better. Like the guy with the hand whisks, he was fun.
Didn’t see any stand creating brilliant childrens packed lunch ideas, or how to make a healthy meal in 5 mins!!
As one of the volunteers thank you that compliment!! It was hard but enjoyable work and nice to be appreciated. I am going to volunteer next year
Hi Helen
Your ideas for children’s packed lunches or preparing a healthy meal in 5 minutes are good ones. Why not consider becoming one of our volunteers – we need more help each year, plus new ideas on what we can offer visitors to the Festival. If you or anyone else is interested in becoming a volunteer in the year’s preparing stage or over the event itself, please see our website and contact Jo Lowry, the Volunteer Coordinator. It’s hard work, but great fun.
Yes would love to, was a volunteer a few years back, will come back with ideas for you.
Yes is was a FESTIVAL But I would not describe it fully as a FOOD festival.it took two hours till we finally found “food” as the entertainment was much better than in previous years.
Many food selling shops where you would expect some sort of “on pavement food activity” were really business as usual sadly.
In the main part of the town there were few food areas, the college one was very interesting, so were the gardens of dysart buildings, they had a fab vegetable tent a lovely idea. The main focus of “food” were the two areas of car park dedicated to van food sales, add music which was good, so really you get a festival not a food festival after all. With a couple of tents of deli foods.
Next year I would hope to see a fruit shop showing ways of making raw vegetables and fruit part of everyday meals, a butcher showing how easy a one pot meal would be, and a cake shop actually decorating a plain sponge!! Now that would be a food festival.
How can anyone complain or criticise this event. Do these people realise that this event is made possible by the fabulous volunteers who give a lot of there time in making this festival a pleasant and enjoyable time for these ungrateful folk.
My husband was one of these volunteers who worked 10 hour Friday and 10 hours Saturday. Most volunteers worked the full 3 days. One volunteer even slept on site to help maintain security for stall holders. “Dedication or what” If it wasn’t for these volunteers there wouldn’t even be a festival !! I know I am right in saying the folks of Nantwich are proud of this event and other events staged in Nantwich and especially proud of the folk who give up their time to help make these vents what they are. GOD BLESS YOU ALL AND MANY MANY THANKS.
By the sounds of it, it was a great success, but just because lots of people worked very hard to make it happen doesn’t mean an event cannot be criticised.
Shila, Sue was spot on commenting there was not enough food, because there was not!!
Yes there were the takeaways, yes the tent with the speakers, yes the tents with food items in two areas, and a few on the streets, but this is NOT FOOD I don’t eat takeaway every day, I eat a balanced diet, and in my family I have gluten intolerant, dairy free family members that eat that way for health issues not for any sort of fad. But where were the gluten free bread companies? There was only one in the entire show that would make me a gluten free pie, and luckily they are local.
When this show rocks off home, just where do you buy the products we all tasted? As no follow up is taken.
Where were the stands that actually showed you how to cook simply, on a tight budget, healthily, and by all family members? Now that is a FOOD SHOW
And as for being a volunteer, those folk are fantastic, they worked really hard and we do appreciate that, I know as I have done it myself!
Shila, I would read the comments again if I were you, the lady was not complaining or criticising at all, merely mentioning that there seemed to be more entertainment this year. Great idea really, but when I go to a music gig, those same vans or similar are there to feed the audience, and you cannot really say they were an active part of a “food Show” at all.
Food shows generally give you a free taste, the vans didn’t haha !!