It was supposed to be an event that brought the community together. But when the Emsworth Food Festival ended up causing bitter division, chairman Lulu Bowerman knew something had to be done.
Committee members had been abused in the street, shopkeepers were threatened that customers would take their business elsewhere if they supported the festival and a petition was circulated.
So she and fellow festival organisers acted and axed the popular event for this year, while suggesting that when it returns in 2009, the festival may well be scaled down.
Lulu, 49, says: ‘It was started with the best of intentions, but it became so difficult to keep the status quo last year that we have had to take a step back.
‘You want to please the community and not have everybody fighting. But there have been people going in shops and saying “if you support the food festival, then we won’t shop here any more”. It is best to let the dust settle.’
She adds: ‘Cancelling it was a very bitter pill to swallow. It was a very difficult decision to make but common sense had to prevail. The brain had to rule the emotions.
‘I remember one of the protesters asked what gave us the right as an unelected body to impose our will on the community. That stuck in my mind.’
The problem has been the sheer size of the festival. From just a handful of stalls at the first festival back in 2001, it quickly grew to attract more than 130 stalls and 55,000 visitors over three days each year.It seemed that the town had discovered the recipe for success. But it got so big that the centre had to be effectively closed for four days, with large numbers squeezing into narrow streets and traffic restrictions imposed by police and Havant Borough Council meaning some residents couldn’t use their cars.
By 2007 the festival was bigger than ever and the goodwill and co-operation of some people living and working in Emsworth was beginning to wear thin.
The news that there is no festival in 2008 has pleased traders who had grown fed up with the disruption. In their eyes, an event that was originally set up to help support local businesses was putting people off shopping there.
Evelyn Pearce, of Emsworth Delicatessen in West Street, says: ‘I’m very pleased there isn’t going to be a festival this year. We do less business over the festival weekend than any other weekend in the year. If there had been a festival this year, I was going to close the shop on the Saturday because it would just not be cost-effective to stay open.’
She adds: ‘It was fantastic when it started, but it has just got out of hand. Now people come here for the freebies, not to see what shops Emsworth has got.’Carli Strugnell, 20, of Citrus Flowers in The Square, explains: ‘It has got too big and affects local businesses. All the visitors are coming for the festival and are not interested in anything else. We lose quite a lot of money compared to a normal weekend and a lot of other shops are saying the same thing.
‘The food festival used to be small and each shop would have a stall. But now it is absolutely massive and stalls are coming in from other areas and blocking off the shops behind. So many people have complained about things that something had to be done.’Michael Starr, 63, of Starr Butchers in High Street, says: ‘It was definitely better when it was a smaller event. The first three or four years were brilliant, but it has lost that personal feeling. It’s just become too big and got out of hand.
‘Local people who get their meat from me don’t come in when the festival’s on. If I didn’t have my barbecue going outside, I might as well shut up shop. Other shopkeepers are the same. Visitors come here to walk around, go in the wine tent and get free tasters from the stalls; they don’t come in the local shops. The only ones earning a crust from it are the pubs.’
Some residents are also pleased to see the festival taking a breather. Emsworth Residents’ Association chairman Chris Curry adds: ‘There are quite a few people who were very inconvenienced by the festival, particularly those who live in roads that were shut off from 9am-5pm for three days.
‘They got really uptight about it and created a bit of a furore. I know it also affected shops and businesses.’
But others who wanted to keep the festival angrily claim it has fallen victim to a small but vociferous minority of whingers. Comments posted on the Emsworth Food Festival website are powerful and emotive – using words such as ‘devastated’, ‘dismayed’ and ‘outraged’ to describe their feelings about the event being cancelled.
Lulu, who was voted Business Personality of the Year at The News Business Excellence Awards last month for her work organising the food festival, explains: ‘The festival was started to help local businesses survive and flourish, but it had become a juggling act to keep everybody happy.
‘When a growing minority of people say they are not sure they want the festival any more, then you have to take that on board.’
But she says the festival will come back in 2009 – although its exact form has yet to be decided.
‘If people want it back, then it will come back. I’m not a dictator. Getting smaller is an option. The feedback so far has been that people want it to be a very local event and relevant to Emsworth.
‘They want it to celebrate shops in Emsworth and businesses in a 10-20 mile radius. People love it as a street market with atmosphere, entertainment and fireworks.’
Another option is to make it a cultural festival, not just about food. Lulu says: ‘We have other culture in Emsworth. For instance there are very good artists here.’Lulu says organisers will talk to people on both sides of the debate and take on board their opinions so nobody
feels alienated.
Festival directors met last week and now intend to visit other food festivals to see how they are run.
Meanwhile festival projects will continue in schools and colleges and several young chefs competitions will still take place. Local charities and initiatives will also benefit from money raised by the 2007 festival.
Lulu thinks it likely the Emsworth festival will continue in a smaller form in the future, perhaps without elements such as the competitions, demonstrations, wine tastings, marquees, classes and celebrity chefs.
Residents’ association chairman Chris Curry believes that would win a lot of support. He says: ‘We would like to see a smaller, good quality event kept in the town.’
As for Michael Starr, he also thinks that smaller would definitely be better.
‘Emsworth’s a lovely little place and ideal for a food festival, but it has to be smaller in future.’

[1] The News 5th February 2008