Thousands flock to ‘Accrington on Sea’
EIGHT thousand revellers flocked to enjoy a day at the ‘seaside’ in the heart of Accrington.
Under sunny skies Warner Street was packed out for the ‘Oh I do like to be beside the Seaside’ community festival on Sunday, May 29.
Accrington was transformed into an unlikely seaside resort for the day as a homemade beach and giant deckchair took pride of place on Bank Street and children got stuck in making sandcastles.
Organised by Warner Street traders Evonne Harwood and Kathryn Furey, it was a packed day of entertainment with samba drummers, a brass band, street food stalls, as well as vintage fairground rides and a retro Punch and Judy show.
The spirit of the 1960s was alive and well as the mods and rockers of Lancashire paraded through the town, and there was even specially created ‘Accrington Rock’ from Blackpool for visitors to get their teeth around.
Organiser Evonne, who has been planning the event with Kathryn for six months, said: “It was absolutely amazing. Everything was a success, there were no incidents, and the kids enjoyed themselves on the beach all day. We had lots of positive feedback and it was exactly what we wanted.
“People didn’t believe that we could get the seaside atmosphere in Accrington but we managed it. It’s lifted the spirit of the town, it’s bringing in trade and every one of the stall holders actually made money on the day.”
Evonne added: “We’re one hundred percent thrilled with how it went. We are going to do two annual events in summer and winter, and we are now planning the Christmas one, the Dickensian event. Onwards and upwards!”
Accrington North County Councillor Clare Pritchard attended the event, and congratulated the organisers for showing off the best of the town.
She said: “It was absolutely fantastic, the whole town came out for it. There was thousands of people and it was really refreshing to see it was also really well organised, and great credit needs to go to Evonne Harwood and Kate Furey.
“I’d love to see it happen on a regular basis, I think we need to do a lot more shouting about how wonderful our town actually is. People like to talk Accrington down but on the day they all actually got in the swing of it. We have got some lovely independent shops in Accrington, we just need to talk them up a bit more, and events like this are great for doing that.”
Pictures by Andy Lambert