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Nantwich Food Festival seeks new volunteers and improves its eco-credentials

Marketing Cheshire visitor economy Volunteering Cheshire East 20/06/2022

Food festival seeks volunteers

Nantwich Food Festival is holding a Volunteer evening on Tuesday 12th July 2022, and is calling for new volunteers to hear more about helping to make this year’s event safe and enjoyable for everyone.

The Festival is run entirely by Volunteers, and has a reputation for high quality; this year it takes place between Friday 2nd and Sunday 4th September; Nantwich Food Festival is organised entirely for the benefit of the town.

Each year the Festival showcases around 200 stallholders, provides a wide range of entertainment, entertainment and attractions, and encourages events in local businesses; these bring visitor numbers of around 40,000 to the town across the 3 day weekend, with town businesses benefitting from this influx. 

Volunteer Coordinator Ana Martins tells us: “The Nantwich Food Festival relies on our wonderful Volunteers to produce a high quality event. Festival volunteering involves no set hours or requirements, so people can help over the Festival weekend for just a couple of hours or longer if they wish.

“New and existing Volunteers will be supported in whatever role/s they opt for, and training will be provided free of charge. We have volunteers of all ages and abilities, so anyone who wants to help is most welcome to join us.

“The Volunteer evening will be held at The Red Cow Pub, on Beam St, Nantwich, opposite the bus station on 5th July, starting at 7pm; light refreshments will be provided, and, weather permitting, the event will be held outdoors.

Many Volunteer roles exist over the Festival weekend, from directing members of the public to ensuring that public areas are kept clean and tidy. Volunteers work closely with the exhibitors, whilst the celebrity and local chef demonstrations in the Civic Hall and at the Love Lane area need to be safely organised. Ensuring the safe and smooth running of the street entertainment, music stages and children’s marquee are also important tasks.

Ana goes on to say “In addition to the above weekend volunteering, one role needs input throughout the year, that of a new, keen Volunteer to champion the important issue of recycling; details are available at the Volunteer evening or by emailing me, so please see below for my contact details.”

The Festival team will also be available to talk about festival plans and volunteering at Nantwich Societies Spectacular in the town centre on Saturday 2nd July, so this is another ideal opportunity for you to find out more, and to meet some of the team.

Ana finishes, saying “If you have a little spare time and want to be a part of the success of Nantwich Food Festival, you are most welcome to hear more about helping to make our town the special place that it is. We would love to see you at the Volunteer Open Evening at The Red Cow, however there is no obligation at all to sign up.” If you would like further information about volunteering, just email Ana at volunteers@nantwichfoodfestival.co.uk

Moving from inspiring local volunteering, to inspiring sustainability; we recognise that we all need to do more for the environment and Nantwich Food Festival is no different. Over the coming years, The Festival organisers are striving to improve sustainability through the generation of a “green manifesto” to capture their objectives, targets and initiatives that they want to achieve.

Nathan Arndt, Sustainability Lead for the Festival tells us “Nantwich Food Festival is working closely with Sustainable Nantwich, Ansa and other organisations to determine what we can achieve in the coming years, and to support the generation and execution of our plan. Sustainable Nantwich will have a stall at the Food Festival, so do call round to find more from them about their sterling work.

“In the short term, one of our most significant Festival changes is to reduce the amount of paper waste by scaling back the brochure to a more user friendly fold out. It will still contain all the key information required including a map, however, we are encouraging more people to “go digital”, using our re-styled Festival website for more information.

“To support this, we are putting a number of QR code boards around the town and at marquees to provide quicker access.”

“Our work with Ansa on waste management means that whilst Festival recyclables are indeed recycled, the collected waste is sent to a “Waste to Energy” plant; more details of how this works, and the Festival Green Manifesto can be seen on the Festival website.

“This year, we shall be looking to learn more from our exhibitors in terms of waste reduction options and encouraging the use of compostable/recyclable plates, cups and packaging where possible. In the coming years, we will look to drive forward this initiative to reduce the amount of single use plastic and waste generated at the festival.

Nathan goes on to say “As always, we strive to support local businesses where possible, not only to enable them to show their amazing produce but also to reduce food miles and therefore pollution and generated C02. The same goes for suppliers of equipment to the festival, using local companies where possible.

“The well-established and well-used Park & Ride scheme provided for Festival visitors also assists in reducing pollution. With sites located on all major routes in to the town, we can reduce the amount of traffic having to transit through.”

For information about this year’s Nantwich Food Festival visit www.nantwichfoodfestival.co.uk