Sustainable Communities

East Midlands Regional Food & Drink Festival

"TV chefs to lead celebration of region's produce"

The Festival aims to celebrate what makes the East Midlands region special in terms of its food and drink culture and heritage and use it to help develop the local economy.

Organisation: Leicestershire County Council

Completion Date: 31/10/2004

Location

East Midlands

Project Description

Melton Mowbray, with its food heritage as the home of Stilton cheese and the famous pork pie, is the ideal location for a food and drink festival - Matthew O'Callaghan, Chairman, Melton Mowbray Food Partnership

The East Midlands Food and Drink Festival, the biggest yet in the region, will be held in Melton Mowbray over four days in October 2004 and should attract more than 12,000 visitors. The festival will spread over 50,000ft2 of covered space in exhibition halls and marquees at the Cattle Market in the centre of Melton Mowbray.

TV stars at festival
The festival is open to the public on Saturday 9th and Sunday 10th October. Besides more than 100 stands cooking and selling produce, attractions will include demonstrations by top TV celebrity chefs Anthony Worrall-Thompson, Sophie Grigson, Clarissa Dickson-Wright and Johnny Scott. Other events include 'Grow Your Own Question Time' with our panel of TV and radio experts hosted by Martin Fish (BBC East Midlands), food trails, tastings, music, entertainment and much more.

Schools' Day
On Friday 8th October there is a Schools' Day organised by Leicestershire Food Links. At least 1,000 children are scheduled to visit and a number of schools are growing their own food for the event. The programme for the day includes how to make pizza, bread and pork pies along with a demonstration of a machine that prepares apples for use. Other attractions include sheep-shearing, farm machinery exhibits, animals, the Waitrose Education Bus, story-telling, displays and more.

Trade event
The morning of Monday 11th October will be a trade event where exhibitors will meet major buyers from the region and beyond. Besides supermarkets and other consortia we will be inviting more than 15,000 East Midlands food-buying outlets.

Sponsors and promoters
The festival promoters are Melton Mowbray Food Partnership and co-ordination of the event is by Infodex. Sponsors include Samworths Brothers Limited, the East Midlands Development Agency, East Midlands Fine Foods, the LSEP, Leicestershire County Council, National Lottery SEED Programme, Melton Borough Council and Melton Mowbray Market.

Festival supporters include Bouverie Lodge, Leicestershire Food Links, Dickinson & Morris, local authorities, Northfield Farm, Leicester Shire Promotions, National Farmers Union, Brooksby College, DEFRA (Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs), W.I. Markets (Leicestershire and Rutland), the Countryside Agency and the National Forest.

A festival steering group meets regularly to help Melton Mowbray Food Partnership and Infodex manage the relevant activities. Expert assistance to ensure smooth running is provided by a range of outside interests. The steering group reports progress every other month to a consortium of supporters and other interested parties.

Outcomes

The idea of a regular East Midlands Food and Drink Festival arose from the Food and Drink in Tourism national pilot project led by the then Heart of England Tourist Board.

Enhancing the region
It is hoped the festival will enhance and celebrate what makes the East Midlands' region special in terms of its food and drink culture and heritage. Further, it is hoped that it will help develop the local economy and maximise the benefits of visitor spending to the region's economy and local communities.

Other specific beneficial outcomes will include:

• Public enjoyment of a full-scale, two-day event with sampling of real food and friendly atmosphere.

• Opportunities for more than 100 food and drink producers and retailers to showcase their produce, develop new customers and improve linkages with other suppliers at the trade event.

• Educational benefits of the enhanced schools' food-learning programme.

• The festival should generate a surplus which will be used as initial funding for future festivals in Melton Mowbray in 2005 and beyond.

Project Contacts

Project manager:
Richard Thumpston
Tel: 0116 265 7132
E-mail: rthumpston@leics.gov.uk
Website: www.eastmidlandsfoodfestival.co.uk

LSEP contact:
Gill Smitherman
Tel: 0116 257 5676
Email: gills@lsep.co.uk
Website: www.lsep.co.uk