Nantwich Food Festival

The Nantwich Food Festival is just round the corner to delight us all; the festival returns from Friday 1st - Sunday 3rd September and is jam-packed with amazing exhibitors and entertainment.

The Festival organisers thank Nantwich Town Council, Cheshire East Council and all sponsors for their ongoing support that has been crucial to the Festival’s continued success.

Festival Friday starts at 11am with a quiet hour for those who want or need to browse the stalls in both marquees without the crowds. Then Friday continues from 12MD to 8pm with food, drinks, live music and lots of entertainment; town centre entertainment starts at 11am and runs until 8pm, whilst the Reaseheath College Food Theatre has chef demonstrations from 12md and continues through the weekend.

We are pleased to say that the much-anticipated Cookalong still has some places available for visitors to cook under the tuition of professional chefs; just go to: 

https://www.nantwichfoodfestival.co.uk/cookalong/

Do keep an eye on the festival social media for competitions to win a pair of tickets to some of these popular events!

Festival Saturday runs from 9am – 7pm, so expect more Festival fabulousness with great exhibitors, celebrity and local chefs, and wonderful live music; Festival Sunday is 10am- 5pm, with the earlier closing time enabling the Festival team to start the massive clear up task.

Some town centre car parks need to close to allow space for marquees and all the exhibitors; signs have been up since early August, giving good notice of these closures that will run from 6pm Tuesday 29^th August until 5pm Monday 4^th September – yes within 24 hours of the Festival finishing, the car parks will again be available for use, and the town centre clean and tidy again.

Due to the reduced availability of town centre parking, Festival organisers are urging visitors to use public transport; both the bus and train stations are within 5 minutes walk of the Festival.

The Festival Park & Ride scheme – which operates from Brine Leas School, Barony Park and Nantwich Football Club runs on all Festival days. Providing the Park & Ride scheme makes travel into the town centre environmentally healthier and less fraught for everyone. The Park & Ride scheme is free, but a recommended donation of just £2 per vehicle helps to support this important facility and local charities.

Disabled parking and disabled access buses will operate from the Barony Park & Ride location only, and there will be disabled parking at other locations; please see the map on the Festival website for details.

Direct Access, a Nantwich business, will again provide a calm area throughout the weekend over at the Love Lane end of the town to help anyone in need of peace and quiet; this worked so well last year that Festival organisers are delighted to have their support again.

Turning now to the all important public loos! In addition to the Festival loos, there are public loos next to the market, plus the Nantwich Town Council ‘Comfort Scheme’ whereby participating local cafes etc allow visitors to use their loo – just look out for the posters.

Volunteers will be readily visible in their high viz jackets; they’re the go-to people for Festival brochures, information and directions to anywhere and anything in Nantwich; right in the town centre there will also be an information stand. They will have attended their training just days before the Festival kicks off, so will be up to date on safety issues, so will be ready to deal with any queries.

All the Festival team members are volunteers, reinforcing the acknowledged fact that Nantwich Food Festival is about the community. The team is grateful to local organisations Morrison’s supermarket and St Mary’s Church, Nantwich for allowing the Festival to use their car park and grassed area respectively; the team knows that St Mary’s Church Rector is grateful for the generosity of donations from visitors.

Safety is always high on the agenda for Nantwich Food Festival, so to complement the Festival Volunteers, there are the Health and Safety team, the Staff Solutions Group First aiders and local police. This year the Festival has introduced two First Aid areas within the town centre that will enable an even quicker response to any incidents.

Simon Walter of Rhino Safety keeps a close eye on everything; he ensures risk assessments are in place and closely monitors events throughout the weekend eg ensuring that marquees don’t become overcrowded. The Festival isn't approved to open until all safety and hygiene inspections are satisfactory on Festival Friday morning.

Two music stages, sponsored by Snugbury’s and Nantwich Hearing Centre, with live music to appeal to all tastes throughout the weekend; Cheshire’s Silk 106.9 will be at the helm, ensuring that the transition between musicians works seamlessly. Expect to enjoy many great acts including: Subrosa5, Scarlett Fever, Stepping Lane plus Funky Rythmix and we cannot forget the talented local pianist, Andrea Lambelle who will feature on Saturday morning.

The chef demonstrations are bound to be popular with all taking place in the Reaseheath Food Theatre, Love Lane. On Festival Friday Stavros, the head chef from multi award-winning St Marthas will showcase his talent – we are delighted to see him return this year, plus Sandbach chef Sarah Thompson will feature how to include chillies in your savoury and, yes, sweet cooking. Top of the board on Friday has to be the wonderful celebrity chef, Lesley Waters, expect standing room only for her demonstrations!

Festival Saturday will feature not just one but two celebrity chefs – the talented Simon Rimmer plus the ever popular Nigel Brown; Chris Waling also returns this year to demonstrate his great gluten free ‘Cakes by Noah’.

On Sunday the Festival looks forward to welcoming Babna of Babna's Patisserie - an independent Manchester-based bakery business that has grown to innovate unique flavours and designs across a broad range of bakery items.

Babna says:

“My dream is to produce beautiful French desserts that can be shared with all - desserts that have exquisite flavours and textures that will leave one with fond memories. I call it ‘French desserts made easy’.” 

Nigel Brown returns on Sunday, when Jack Stein will also demonstrate his personal cooking style – definitely one to catch.  If all this isn’t enough, Reaseheath chefs will also demonstrate on Saturday and Sunday.

This year, in support of the Festival’s approach towards inclusivity, it is pleased to announce that it has introduced sign language interpretation for some of the celebrity chef demonstrations; keep an eye out for the schedule on Festival social media.

The Festival cannot forget its younger visitors, so is pleased to report that again Whitegates Kids Marquee (Kids Corner) will host a whole variety of craft activities including a colouring competition by Whitegates. The Dabber Bear leaflets can be collected from the kids marquee or the information point in town. 

The kids activities supervised by Festival Volunteers will include:

Gingerbread decorating

Make your own placemat                                                        Bread painting

Pasta necklaces                                                                      Marshmallow catapults 

Picture stamping                                                                     Zombie and marshmallow pops

Make a Butterfly

We can see from the photos just how popular this area was last year. The activities will be free, but the volunteers will be pleased to collect monetary donations to go to the Nantwich Foodbank.

A great new initiative will be a mini disco (bubbles and music) every afternoon 4:30-5pm for children to attend while the volunteers tidy up the marquee.

At time of writing, there are still places in the Banana Loaf competition - simply enter via

cakecompnantwichfoodfestival@gmail.com

If you are one of the lucky 12 to gain a place, then bring your entry along to Reaseheath Food Theatre on Festival Saturday by 2.30pm.

For up to date information go to:

#nantwichfoodfestival

or the website: 

www.nantwichfoodfestival.co.uk

Yes, the Nantwich Food Festival is well and truly ready for action!