Organisers of the Stone Food & Drink Festival have been busy working on the delivery of an online programme to help offer some of the festival vibe to foodies in 2020.
With the main event cancelled due to COVID-19 restrictions, the aim is to host a series of smaller events thoughout town during festival week alongside a schedule of online cookery demonstrations and foodie talks and masterclasses.
Lead sponsor Joule’s Brewery is back on board, and has kindly provided space at its new Crown Wharf development for the filming of cookery demonstrations which, kindly sponsored by Lexus Stoke, will present dishes from top local chefs that viewers can ‘cook along’ with during festival weekend.
The ‘virtual’ cookery demos will go live over the ‘big weekend’ on Sat 3rd & Sun 4th October via the festival website, Youtube channel and Facebook page and the team is liaising with town centre shops, restaurants and pubs to curate a series of offers and events in and around town during the run-up week. Also taking place over the ‘Big Weekend’ will be the traditional Festival Farmers’ Market on Saturday 3rd October and a special festival edition of the ‘FEAST Stone’ streetfood event; both of which will take place on Westbridge Park to allow for social distancing.
Festival chairman, Richard Stevens, says:
“We’re naturally hugely disappointed that we won’t be running the main event on Westbridge Park this October, but wanted to bring some of the festival vibe to our fans via our online platforms and smaller live events in and around town. Hopefully local businesses will benefit from the support and we’d like to thank sponsors Joule’s Brewery and Lexus Stoke for their support in this new venture.
“We fully intend to be back as the main festival in October 2021 and plans are already underway for an exciting new layout and enhanced festival programme. In the meantime, follow us on social media and sign up for our email list to be kept in the loop on this year’s virtual festival – full details will be published on our website very soon!”
The ‘Virtual’ Stone Food & Drink Festival will see events take place in town and online from Friday, 25th September – Sunday 4th October 2020.
For details head to stonefooddrink.org.uk and sign up for e-newsletter updates. You can also follow the event on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
