HedFest – It’s a GO for summer Hedon Festival!

EAST RIDING of Yorkshire Council has considered a fourth round of High Street Fund applications they have announced today. Amongst the eight applications approved was one award of £10,000 to establish an annual weekend festival in Hedon with a strong emphasis on business and community involvement in Hedon town centre.

The Hedon Blog spoke to the applicants yesterday Phil Danby from St Augustine’s Church, David Thompson from Hedon Town Council and John Holtby from Cornucopia:

HEDFEST is to be the title of the new first Hedon Festival to be held in August this year organised by a partnership of Hedon Town Council, St Augustine’s Church and Cornucopia.

And at HedFest ‘headwear’ is likely to be one of the themes running through the summer event: Artists, crafts people, bands and children will all bring their own interpretation of HedFest to the festival with a variety of hats, bonnets, caps, masks, veils, wigs and even giant puppet heads likely to make an appearance.

The festival will start across teatime on Friday 14th August and continue all day Saturday 15th August from early morning to midnight and is described as ‘a community-based festival with family entertainment’. It will aim to be a community initiative that draws upon all the local talent in the area.

John Holtby from experienced festival organisers Cornucopia said that an essential first step is to organise a public meeting where anyone can express an interest in getting involved and help shape the event.

“We want to hear from local singers, bands, artists, community groups, schools and local businesses – anyone who might want to participate.

“The main streets in the town will be closed for the festival on the Saturday for family entertainment and we hope the local pubs and other venues will host festival acts too. We will also have specially-staged areas where we can bring entertainers, attractions and bands that wouldn’t normally come to Hedon; entry in these areas will be restricted to those who buy a low-cost wrist band. The sale of these will help pay for these special acts.

“But the festival will also offer a whole variety of free events, such as street theatre, music, crafts workshops and a major carnival type procession through the town with floats.”

The Hedon Festival is one of the latest projects to be funded through the East Riding of Yorkshire Council’s High Street Fund with the partnership trio of Hedon Town Council, St Augustine’s Church and Cornucopia having been awarded £10,000 to stage the event. The fund aims to revitalise high streets and improve town centres through regeneration activity. Applicants are encouraged to think creatively about how to achieve the aims of the fund..

The £10,000 from the High Street Fund has delighted the organisers, but an appeal to local industry is to be organised to build on that amount.

“With additional sponsorship,” said John Holtby “we will be able to do so much more and help create a really wonderful and unique event that can become an annual feature of Hedon’s calendar.”

Those interested in getting involved in HedFest should in the first instance contact Hedon Town Council at the Town Hall, St Augustine’s Gate, Hedon, HU12 8EX.

The Town Hall is open from 9:00am to 3:00pm on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. E-mail: townclerk@hedon.gov.uk or tel: 01482 898428.