OVER 6,000 people attended the first combined Melksham Food and River Festival last week, and organisers have hailed it a roaring success.
The festival, hosted over Saturday 5th and Sunday 6th September, was the first time the two popular events had joined forces. Littlefest began the festivities with live music and food sampling on the Saturday, before the main event on Sunday which saw thousands of people flock to King George V park for a day of family fun.
“It was absolutely amazing!” said one of the organisers, Adrienne Westbrook. “It was great to see so many people turn up – we think there were between six and eight thousand people there over the weekend, which is fantastic.
“We’re definitely glad we merged the food and river festivals together; it happened so naturally and moving to the playing field worked really well. We’ve had a lot of feedback about how much fun the weekend was and how happy people were to have a free community event like it.
“My personal highlight was when I went onto the balcony of the adventure centre and saw thousands of people enjoying themselves in the park – that was when I knew we’d got it right.”
Entertainment over the weekend included live music, canoe sessions, boat trips, cooking demonstrations, a chilli eating competition, and a huge number of stalls from local businesses, organisations and charities.
The event was sponsored by Waitrose, who held food tasting stalls.
Branch manager Chris Smith said, “Waitrose is very proud to have sponsored the Food and River Festival 2015. There was a huge amount of planning for the event and great commitment from a large number of people.
“Waitrose prides itself on the work it does with the local community and this is a great example.”
Melksham Food and River Festival was organised by the committee of the Melksham Food & Drink Festival and the Wilts & Berks Canal Trust, in association with Melksham Town Council.
