Do you know of a Festival of Water venue?
The main reason that it has not been a Festival of Water for the last few years is a lack of suitable venue, so this is an appeal to IWA members to see if there is a location within your local area that could host the event. You can help in the search for a new venue that could hold the Festival of Water. Any suggestion will be looked at, firstly virtually and then if it looks like it has the main ingredients for a possible site, then a physical visit will be made to confirm all the necessary requirements for a venue is met, before then asking the land owner for permission to hold the event on their land.
There are several key main elements that are necessary, to consider a site as a possible venue.
Firstly, land size available. This ideally has to be about the same as 3 full size football pitches. This is for the trade site, campsite and car park. Ideally the campsite will need to be adjacent, or very near by the trade site, and the same for the car park. The land should be as flat as possible and be alongside a waterway. The trade site area must be together, and not in small pockets.
The waterway alongside must be able to accommodate up to 100 visiting boats, preferably double moored, as not to spread the boats out too far. Ideally the towpath being on the same side as site, or if not nearby access to cross over to the trade site easily. If there is a section of good flat bank that can accommodate floating traders, that will be an advantage. The waterways must be connected to the main network. We have had events on rivers as well as canals.
Access onto the land must be good enough for caravans, trailers and suppliers’ vehicles. Vehicles can be up to 7.5 tonnes for suppliers.
There needs to be a water supply nearby. A fire hydrant is acceptable, as we obtain permissions to use this type of supply.
The nearer to a town the event is, the larger the possible attendance. Past events have been close to St Neots high street, Northampton City centre and Ilkeston town centre. All of these had a large attendance.
The Festival of Water tries to have a campaigning local issue to help address, so if the waterway is underused, has navigational problems or even a has a restoration nearby, which can be promoted, all the better.
If you know of anywhere that might be able to hold an event, be that a Festival of Water or a campaign rally, please do get in touch either via the IWA head Office or directly to the Event Logistics Chair [email protected].
