Council needs to take lead and amaze Valley visitors
THE other week, the Adrenaline Centre - aka Haslingden Sports Centre - welcomed thousands of people to the Kite Festival, a wonderful event which at its core is quite simple: Watching people fly remarkable kites.
It was a reminder of the power of unusual events to draw crowds.
But is enough being done to make the most of Rossendale and create events which attract even larger numbers to our Valley?
I can’t help but think the answer, at the moment, is no.
As the leader of the local Tories, David Foxcroft, pointed out in his column the other week, the council’s support for Jubileerelated events was muted, especially when compared to other areas.
It’s not that we don’t have great events here - we do.
But we don’t have, apart from the kite festival, that many new events coming through.
Of course, Waterfoot Wakes is a wonderful series of events, the 60s festival will be impressive and the Bacup and Stacksteads Carnival returned to much delight earlier this year too.
But just down the road, Accrington has launched a food and drink festival, and brought back the Soapbox Challenge - a kind of home-built, gokarting gone mad type race which is really good fun.
Under the banner ‘Amazing Accrington’ events big and small are being lined up to sell the town and what it’s all about. Surely Rossendale needs to be doing the same too.
Cross-party political support appears to be the driving force behind what’s working in Accrington, with local businesses leaning in to support a range of events too.
Rossendale is well placed to do similar.
As we know, there’s no shortage of demand for houses for people wanting to come and live here - and we are within an hour’s drive of three major cities (and Preston).
The council needs to take a much more public lead on this.
It’s not enough just to facilitate and support ideas coming from members of the community.
That’s what a council should do. It needs to lead from the front.
It’s not enough to say it has a strategy to attract more visitors.
It needs to come up with a slate of ideas which inspire local people and businesses to get involved, and which lend themselves to being promoted and advertised across the North West
The council has spent many millions creating the new Town Square, but as yet, we don’t even have a regular market taking place on it, let alone an event which would draw in the crowds.
Such events are critical for the area’s economy too.
They provide a chance for people who perhaps last visited Rossendale on a school ski trip, or glanced at Rawtenstall while the East Lancashire Railway train they were on was preparing to return to Bury, to come here and discover the area.
Events can have a big impact, quickly.
Look at how the Chocolate Festival took over Ramsbottom so quickly and became a huge hit.
Or the way Leyland has reintroduced its annual Festival so effectively.
The Kite Festival is a blueprint for what could be, if our council leaders step up with a plan to really put Rossendale on the map for visitors.
At the moment, Accrington has the lead.