Asparafest set to celebrate music, food and farming (From Evesham Journal)
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Asparafest set to celebrate music, food and farming
5:00pm Saturday 16th February 2013 in News
DETAILS of a new family festival aiming to bring music, food and farming together in a unique format hopes to attract about 5,000 visitors to the Vale of Evesham.
The line-up for Asparafest, which will be held on Saturday and Sunday, June 1 and 2, was unveiled at a meeting of the Asparagus Festival Community Interest Company at Wayside Farm Shop, Wickhamford, on Monday.
The event will add another dimension to the Asparagus Festival season which starts with the launch on April 23, St George’s Day, and continue for eight weeks, culminating with a Morris Dance festival with more than 500 dancers taking part.
Nigel Smith, landlord of The Fleece, Bretforton, chairman of the CIC, said a budget of £25,000 had been set for the Asparafest at Ashdown Farm and he was looking for 4,000 to 5,000 visitors over the two days to make it viable with ticket prices from £6.50 to £8 for the two days.
“It is an event aimed at the whole family and something of which people of the Vale of Evesham can be rightly proud,” Mr Smith said.
Building on the huge success achieved by the Vale of Evesham Asparagus Festival over the past few years, Mr Smith said Asparafest would consist of local and regional food and drink, music and dance, country crafts, vintage fair and, of course, “lashings of asparagus”.
He said: “It will put this part of Worcestershire firmly on the festival map and working with Wychavon District Council and the Evesham Market Town Partnership, offer a boost to sustainable tourism.”
He said Ashdown Farm, located just off the A46, was an ideal site. It was a large area providing space to showcase the best of the region as well as taking the Asparagus Festival to a new level.
Angela Tidmarsh, Wychavon tourism officer, said last year’s festival generated £1.5 million worth of media publicity for the Vale of Evesham, and both she and Chris Sheehan, CIC secretary, said they looked forward to taking the eight-week festival even further forward this year.
