Organisers of a new Food & Drink Festival on Nantwich Showground believe it won’t have a negative impact on existing festivals in the town.
The new event was unveiled earlier today and is set to be held at Dorfold Park on July 23-24.
It is not associated or linked to the town centre Nantwich Food Festival, which is held every year over three days in September.
Michael Johnston, one of the organisers of the new Dorfold Food & Drink Festival, said: “It seems this announcement has caused quite a stir, and I apologise for any upset this may have caused, especially any of the hardworking volunteers of the current Nantwich Food Festival.
“We are a separate organisation to the Food Festival that takes place in Nantwich town centre.
“This is a fantastic free event run by volunteers and should be protected and enjoyed by all in the area.
“We commend the hard work done by the volunteers and it is not our intention to threaten this in any way.
“We do not anticipate a negative impact on this free event and this was considered.
“In fact, to the contrary, we see this event supporting local food and drink traders, businesses, chefs and artists.”
Mr Johnston said the new event will have a “different feel to it”.
“Think relaxed atmosphere, spending the day lounging on deckchairs in fields, listening to live music, markets, chef demos, live entertainers etc,” he added.
And there will be an entrance fee of between £7.50 and £2.50, with paid staff and contractors.
“We visited Nantwich and Dorfold Hall and loved the feel of the town and event site so decided to go ahead,” he added.
“The date announced was the only date available to us as Dorfold was fully booked for the summer.
“We are unaware of any previous agreements or happenings between Dorfold and The Nantwich Show, other than the fact that The Nantwich Show used to be held at Dorfold.
“We plan to involve local businesses and community as much as possible.
“We have contacted Cheshire Mind as our charity partner and will look to work with local traders, musicians, performers and chefs as we do with any of our other locally integrated festivals.
“If residents have any ideas regarding this, please feel free to message us at [email protected]”
In a statement, directors of the current Nantwich Food Festival said: “We would like to confirm that the Nantwich Food Festival will be going ahead on 2nd-4th September 2022, as already announced.
“Now in its 21st year, the festival will, as previously, be a free-to-enter event around the town with over 200 quality food and drink exhibitors and a variety of live music, entertainment, special events and activities for the whole family.
“The festival is a not-for-profit event run by an army of eager volunteers and with around 40,000 visitors over the three days, is part of an exciting local calendar of events that attracts both locals and tourists to Nantwich, helping to support local businesses and the community.
“We wish the organisers of the new Dorfold Hall Food & Drink Festival all the best with their event, but would like to clear up any confusion and clarify that the two events are not connected.”
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