Food Festival in 2009 will be scaled down.

23/01/2008 by admin.

THE Emsworth Food Festival has received another blow with the news the event could be scaled down in 2009.Residents and traders have been torn over the impact it has on the town 50,000 people visit over three days in September.An intense debate led to this year’s festival being cancelled last month, but chairman of the festival committee Lulu Bowerman has said next year’s event could be cut back to the stalls and fireworks.She said: “If that is what they want, that is easy to deliver. People want their fiesta, which is how they describe it.”Ms Bowerman said a lack of interest had been shown in the demonstrations, wine tasting marquees, and celebrity chefs.“I was stunned,” she said. “It is really strange not to have people talking about the other bits we worked so hard to run, but that does not seem to be what they want.“We cannot just steamroller people into having it. It was becoming really divisive in the community.“It was a very difficult decision to do it. It was a very emotional moment for me. You give your heart and soul to it, but sometimes you just have to be grown-up and responsible.”Manager of the newsagents in  St Peter’s Square Kharran Piper fears the event could be over-run by disappointed people if it is downscaled. She said: “I hope they do not come a bit of a cropper with millions of people turning up and it is not what they expect it to be - it would be a disaster.”People coming from far and wide are going to expect it to be what it always has been.”“I think people have got over the fact there is not going to be a festival. Most people have accepted it.“It is all a bit of a shame, really. Obviously they are all volunteers and it is a     huge amount of work.” It’s so good for tradersMANAGER of Emsworth Hardware Dave Wagg is in support of the festival and does not understand how it cannot be good for trade.He said: “I think it will struggle to come back smaller because there will always be that number of people attending. “It is pretty crowded anyway, If you decrease the number of stalls it will be bedlam.”Ros Oakley of the Pantry Weigh said:
“The risk is you have a lot of people turning up and there is not a lot to see and it falls flat on its face.“From a stall holder’s point of view, on Friday and Saturday people seem to be happier, more relaxed. By Sunday people have been jostling for space everywhere and they are not so happy” 

Ems Valley Gazette Jan 2008

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