This year was a slow burner for the Festival but once it got going things went with a bang – especially starting with a new event – the opening ceremony which, courtesy of our Mayor was a great success Ken brought some giant party poppers and together with the Prince and Princesses got the festival off to a flying start. With the rain now abating many of us then went across the road to sample the EatFeast food stalls.
Personally, I only managed to get around to a few of the events during the week, but the ones I did visit were great – like the Scarecrow Festival, the Garage Sale Trail and the Art Exhibition – a threesome that seemed to work well together as there were loads of people moving around Shefford on foot or in cars and were able to do all three events in a day. Judging from the photos there were lots of people getting a healthy walk joined by Mayor Ken, Mary from Good Neighbours and Mike, the organiser of the Well Being Walks in Bedfordshire.
I got to one or two of the Church events like the Baptist coffee morning and Plastic Free Shefford talk – also the St Michaels Community Café and the Thanksgiving and Celebration of the Poetry of Robert Bloomfield, again with our mayor our Ken who certainly works hard for our community – well done and thanks for all your efforts.
Other events included the Greenspace Conservation Group work party at Bellcote Meadow Millennium Green and the Majorette’s taster evening at the STMA – which was also host to a brilliant Craft Fair and a delightful Family Fun Day – just across from the Bowls Club annual tournament.
I have already been asked to agree on dates for next year and have confirmed the Art Exhibition, Garage Sale Trail and the Scarecrow Festival so please do think ahead what you might like to do – I had lots of late notifications this year which sadly means that these events missed the main publicity. The Festival was one of those slow burners that really came to life as our town came into its own recovery from Covid and the financial disaster that has followed it. An example being the support from local businesses who have faith in Shefford and are putting their money where their faith is – already I have another new sponsor for next year – more news to come.
