In pictures: Chesterton Community Festival entertains crowds
The Chesterton Community Festival is taking place this week and the 10th annual community fun day got the proceedings under way on Saturday (June 22).
Visitors enjoyed a wide range of entertainment and a variety of stalls at Pye’s Rec, off Church Street.
Bands that performed included the Ladybirds Jazz Band and the Chesterton Community College Ceilidh Band.
JezO’s Events Ltd provided the staging and also compered the arena activities.
Among the stallholders were Camcycle, Cambridge Carbon Footprint, Flavours of Ceylon, Headway Cambridgeshire, and Chesterton Local History Group.
The Chesterton Community College Samba Band kicked things off at 1pm and led a procession around the rec.
Rachel Clarke, St Andrew’s Hall manager and co-chair of the Chesterton festival steering committee 2019, said: “It was a really, really good day – it’s very much a family event.
“We had arena acts and stallholders, food being served and the city council set up table tennis tables and tennis courts, and stuck on a skate ramp.
“All of that was free, and then we had a soft play and bouncy castle area, which we call a ‘fun zone’. We just charge families a pound and the children can use that for the full four hours.
“We try to make the festival open to everybody and we want everybody to be able to enjoy something in a really safe and calm environment – it has very much a village fete feel to it. We are also looking for more volunteers and are very open to suggestions.”
Rachel continued: “We had just under 40 stallholders and did very well with the weather.
"It doesn’t matter how much planning you do, you cannot control the weather.”
Rachel said that at one time, the Chesterton Community Festival was only the fun day.
“The extra events are us trying to extend into the community,” she explained, “but the real focus – and we do get some grant funding for it – is the community fun day.”
The festival continued on Sunday (June 23) with an open garden at St George’s Church Vicarage and a songs of praise event at the church.
This Friday (June 28), from 6pm to 10pm, Brown’s Field Community Centre will be hosting live music, children’s activities and a variety of food stalls, while on Saturday (June 29) at 3pm, Milton Road Library, which has undergone major renovation work, will be officially opened by the mayor.
chestertonfestival.wordpress.com
