Nantwich Food Festival - Food Awards are open for nominations

The Nantwich Food Festival operates as a not-for-profit business, organised and run entirely by an enthusiastic team of volunteers, for the benefit of the town. It will take place this year, again for three whole days from August 29th to 31st.

The Festival remains free to enter, including the live music, entertainment, entry to food stalls and food courts and three days of demonstrations by celebrity and local chefs, whereas most other comparable food festivals charge sizeable entry fees.

Many locals and visitors ask how can this be possible in the small market town of Nantwich?

The solution is fairly straightforward: all of the Festival exhibitors pay to exhibit their products, and the Festival is blessed with terrific sponsors, without whom the Festival simply would not take place. All of this money is invested into the Festival including hiring the vast amount and range of equipment that is needed to run a festival of this type in a safe and professional way.

Plus of course all of the Festival organisers are volunteers, meaning there is no wage bill to pay.

John Coulter, Festival Finance Director tells us:

“We have been very fortunate to have support from a number of local businesses and organisations over the many years that Nantwich Food Festival has been running. It was great to join the Festival Sponsors recently at a special launch event at Edward’s Deli and Wine on Pillory Street; we are grateful to Edward’s for hosting the event and wish this independent venue a successful future.

We are indebted to all sponsors, and particularly Nantwich Town Council, as the lead Festival Sponsor for their continued backing. We thank them sincerely for their support of this important local event.

Everyone will be pleased to hear that major local business, Mornflake, will provide sponsorship for the 15^th year, selling their multi award-winning range of Cheshire milled oats, muesli and granola from the Mornflake Pavilion. They have been employing local people since 1675, so their continued support as a Gold Sponsor is much appreciated by the Festival organisers. This year, Mornflake celebrates their 350^th birthday – a huge achievement.”

Festival Director and Sponsorship Manager, Nanna Pedley tells us that sponsors can be from any type of business, so is delighted to announce that Nantwich businesses AFH Wealth Management (previously Applewood Independent) and Hall Smith Whittingham are, for the 6th year, joint Gold Sponsors of the food court at Love Lane. Both businesses will have stalls within their marquee, enabling them to welcome both current and potential clients. AFH take the mystery out of financial planning, and are independent financial advisers whilst Hall Smith Whittingham is a progressive law firm that offers a wide variety of legal services.

Nanna also reveals:

“Local distribution business and key local employer, Boughey, will again sponsor the market-styled town centre area, which has been so popular since they first became involved in the Festival in 2022. We could not be more pleased to welcome them as one of our returning Gold Sponsors.

Nanna continues:

“We are also thrilled to announce that Reaseheath College will again be the Gold Sponsor of the very busy chef demonstration kitchen and all-weather seating marquee in the Love Lane area; this has become an incredibly popular feature since Reaseheath first sponsored the area in 2022. Work is already well underway, booking a great line-up of chefs who will wow us all with their skills – more information on the chefs will be available in late June.

We are pleased to welcome as returning Silver Sponsors, both Whitegates Letting and Estates Agency, who will again sponsor the in-demand Kids Marquee, plus Snugburys, who in addition to again sponsoring the ever-popular Love Lane Music Stage, will be selling their delicious ice-creams.

LCM Family’s generous donation will cover the cost of car park usage to enable the Festival to house the food courts and music stages for the next three years. The support of these businesses is crucial to the success of the Nantwich Food Festival.

The organising team sincerely thanks Nantwich Town Council, LCM Family and all of the above Sponsors for their backing.”

Nanna concludes by saying:

“Some sponsorship and advertising packages are still available for this year’s Festival; please contact me on: 

sponsors@nantwichfoodfestival.co.uk

...to find out more.”

Moving now to another Festival-organised event, it’s already the time of the year when locals can nominate their favourite eatery, bar, cafe, food producer and more for the eagerly contested Nantwich Food Awards; in total there are 8 categories.

Details can be found on the Festival website:

https://www.nantwichfoodfestival.co.uk/food-awards/

Ana Martins is organising the Nantwich Food Awards and tells us:

“You have until just June 30^th to nominate your favourite venue, or if you own the venue, you can nominate it yourself – all details are to be found on the above website, which is now ready to accept your nominations.

Once all the nominations have been received, voting for the nominated businesses opens on July 1^st and closes at midnight on August 31^st; the results will be announced at the annual Food Awards ceremony in October.”

http://www.nantwichfoodfestival.co.uk                                                                                                           

Nantwich Food Festival 2025 takes place on Friday 29th, Saturday 30th and Sunday 31st August inclusive

• Since 2009, the festival has been run by not-for-profit Nantwich Food and Drink Ltd.
• Around 200 businesses have stalls within marquees and Nantwich town centre during the Festival weekend.
• The festival generates an estimated £2m each year for the local economy.
• Nantwich has one of the largest collections of historic buildings in Cheshire, with Elizabethan, Georgian and Victorian architecture throughout the town centre.
• There has been a market in Nantwich since 1720

• Around 100 unpaid, dedicated volunteers keep the festival running each year; in addition to organising the Festival, the volunteers have arranged a series of events in support of Nantwich Foodbank since the Covid pandemic, which continue to this day.