Visitors who came from as far away as Swindon have heaped praise after another hugely successful Nantwich Food Festival.
Organisers have been delighted by the feedback from many who travelled to the town to experience the three-day event, with crowds across the three days reaching around 40,000.
And they say more than 200 exhibitors have gone home happy as well as leaving a town full of contented businesses.
The two huge food courts sponsored by Mornflake, Applewood Independent and Hall Smith Whittingham plus the town centre Boughey Market-style zone were very popular, as were the chefs’ live demonstrations.
Karen Young, Chef Organiser, said: “The four celebrity chefs and all the talented, local chefs demonstrated their prowess, with such scrumptious recipes as Simon Rimmer’s pistachio cake with marinated strawberries and Jack Stein’s cod with kale and charred corn; there was standing room only for these and all the other celebrity chef demonstrations.”
The Reaseheath Food Theatre also hosted Reaseheath chefs, plus Chris Waling with his gluten free “Cakes by Noah” and Babna, who showed us just how to make exquisite French desserts in her step by step approach.
Many of the demos were accompanied by sign language interpretation in a new initiative to improve inclusivity.
Karen also organised the Nantwich Bake-off, won by Emma Lowe whose banana cake won her a hamper filled with goodies sponsored by the M&S Nantwich store.
Festival Director Nanna Pedley organised the Cookalong, sponsored by The White Lion, Weston.
Participants worked under the instruction of trained chefs to produce a meal, so it was great to see all sessions booked up.
The Romazzino meatball Cookalong session for kids was popular with smiling faces all around.
And there was huge demand for celebrity chef Nigel Brown’s Thai Green Curry sessions.
The Whitegates-sponsored “Kids Marquee” was a huge success.
Marquee manager Laura said: “We were kept busy all weekend helping the children with crafts, marshmallow sculptures, making butterflies, gingerbread decorating, painting and much more.
“I want to thank all the businesses who worked with us plus local baker Chatwins for their donation of the ‘naked’ gingerbread people.”
Other Festival entertainment was popular including stilt walkers, fire eaters, Punch and Judy, street entertainment and lots of fun activities for children and adults.
Visitors were quick to leave positive comments.
Ian, from Swindon, said: “I want an award for travelling furthest!
“My first visit to Nantwich since lockdown and I thoroughly enjoyed myself.”
Other comments included:
“Give yourselves a massive pat on the back for such a wonderful festival”
“It was fabulous to browse the food courts and meet all the great exhibitors”
“A brilliant day”
“Boy is this a popular food festival. Thank you and roll on next September!”
Celebrity chef Jack Stein added: “Nantwich Food Festival is amazing and is three times bigger than the Padstow Christmas Festival! How do you do it?”
Festival Chairwoman Chris Farrall said today: “We would like to send a special huge thank you to both Nantwich Town Council and Cheshire East Council plus all the generous Festival sponsors.
“Their continued support of the event enables it to take place every year for the benefit of Nantwich businesses, and to encourage visitors to return to the town to maintain its vibrancy.
“Visitors particularly praised our move from a large brochure to a small pull-out version with QR code which showed all key festival features and events.
“We trialled this last year, but it was incredibly popular this year and of course meant less printing, distribution and associated costs plus much less waste, which fits in with our approach towards sustainability.”
Festival Director Nanna Pedley added: “We want to thank the local residents and businesses for their support and patience with the organisational and infrastructural demands of holding this event in the town itself.
“We do this every year to ensure that visitors experience the town, not just the Festival.”
Seems like a great success once again,
I was however concerned about the number of irresponsible people who decided to take their dogs to the festival in such blistering heat.
I visited the festival myself and wondered what relevance a handbag/scarf stall and a makeup stall had to ‘Food & Drink’.
Perhaps the organisers were a bit short of funds !!!!