Broadstairs Food Festival cancellation

Broadstairs Food Festival has today (15TH June 2020) announced the cancellation of its upcoming event in October due to the Coronavirus/Covid-19 pandemic, placing the not-for-profit in immediate financial jeopardy.

The announcement comes following the government’s continued public health guidelines with regard to outdoor events, and the continued advice against non-essential travel and social contact.

Jo Scott, event director of the Festival, said: "We regret deeply that our bi-annual gathering of food producers and food loving visitors won’t take place in October, as it has for 11 years.

This has not been a decision taken lightly and various alternative ways of staging the festival were extensively explored. However, the steps we would need to put in place to ensure distancing and hygiene measures, coupled with the loss of business sponsorship, means the festival is simply not financially viable.

As we face these coming weeks of uncertainty, we will work hard to carry forward our spirit of togetherness, and to share information of online shops for our producers.

As an organisation we now face a stark reality. The festival is a not-for-profit organisation, run predominantly by volunteers. Our margins are slim and our reserve fund, slimmer. With 40% of income derived from at-the-event donations, business sponsorship and ticketed events, the cancellation compromises our core costs and makes the future of the festival precarious.”

Simon Abra, festival advertising director, added ‘We do appreciate the support and goodwill shown to us by the community and are sorry to have to disappoint visitors, traders and producers and all those who are involved in the staging of this ever-popular event.”

The Festival is self-funded and now, more than ever, donations will be an important source of income. If you have enjoyed visiting the Festival and would wish to see the event return, do show support by donating. Your contribution will be greatly appreciated

To help the festival board work towards the return of the festival in 2021, a GoFundMe page (gf.me/u/x2jar6) has been set up to allow donations online. Every pound raised will be used to continue the staging of this much-loved event, in 2021 and beyond.

JO SCOTT

Event Director

01843 871102 / info@broadstairsfoodfestival.org.uk