Barnaby festival promises to be better than ever
EXCITEMENT is growing ahead of the town’s arts festival, which kicks off this weekend.
Barnaby Festival is back and promises to be better than ever before.
The ten day celebration of Macclesfield’s creativity will showcase the best of the town’s culinary and artistic talents.
Thousands are expected to fill the streets for the opening ‘Big Weekend’ which will see the Barnaby Parade takeover the town in an explosion of colour, on Saturday, June 16 at 12pm.
Event organiser, Mandy Martinez, said a lot of work has gone into making this year’s event extra special.
She said: “The parade will be really wonderful and with the theme of ‘roots/routes’ we are really looking forward to seeing everyone’s costumes. There are 600 people taking part and we are expecting a couple of thousand spectators.”
Over the course of the festival there will be a number of events to wow crowds.
This year’s programme will include a first for the town; a mass jam.
Mandy explained: “On Sunday, June 17, there will be a ‘Watermelon Jam’ and we are hoping to get lots of people down with their instruments to play alongside professional musicians.
“We are hoping to make a lot of ‘good’ noise.”
With more than 100 events planned for the festival there promises to be something for everyone.
Another highlight of the week is a light installation by Zarah Hussain, in the Silk Museum, called Invisible Threads, which will run for the entire festival.
And this year will also look to celebrate some of the town’s rising musical talents. The Barnaby Beat Route, on Friday, June 15, will see 14 different venues play host to more than 20 live acts.
Mandy said: “There are a lot of rising bands in the town and by doing this we are able to give them the exposure and platform to perform.” The event organiser said the festival is an important part of the year for the town to celebrate its creativity. She said: “My message to people would be to come out in force and see everything that is great about the town.
“The most important thing is that you have loads of fun with your family and children.
“More than 80 per cent of the event are free which is really good and means there is something for everyone.”
On Sunday, June 17, a vintage bus will do a loop of Upton, Weston, Ivy, Moss Rose, Hurdsfield every hour dropping people at the festival.
Instead of charging a fare for the journey, passengers will asked to record a story about going and playing out in Macclesfield.
This is part of a town council project called ‘the Macclesfield Plaques’ which aims to celebrate the living social histories of people in the town.
And Duke Street, Town Hall, Exchange Street, Churchill Way, Sunderland Street and Waters Green car parks will also be free from 10 am on Saturday, June 16, ahead of the parade at 12pm.
For full details visit barnabyfestival.org.uk/. town’s people, unique heritage, silk history and its place in the landscape.
Spectators will be able to enjoy more than 100 events.
Things will kick off with the Big Weekend, on June 16 and 17, and the return of the hugely popular Barnaby Parade, with community groups from across Macclesfield already busying themselves with creating their costumes and floats for the event.
And over the course of the following 10 days there will be a variety of events for the whole town to enjoy, from comedy and dance to politics and film.
The much-anticipated festival will then wind down on Sunday, June 24 with the Treacle Market in the town centre.
Then it will be time for the small part-time team to start preparations for the next celebration in two years.