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Posts Tagged ‘food festival’

Food Festival Consultation Workshop

14 Nov

After visiting over 20, mostly funded food festivals this year, and then taken the time and trouble to blog them, I must confess to be feeling very disenchanted about the food festival scene inWales.

Wherever Ian and I go, whenever we are talking to the food industry, we are constantly being asked about festivals and their future – as if anyone in power would tell me! But this is generally from producers who are also rather disillusioned about what Wag might have planned for 2012.  For many years Ian and I have been asking and advising Wag to talk to producers and more importantly to listen to what they have to say, sadlly I thought this had fallen on deaf ears.  

But dear readers, it looks like we are making some progress after all – hurrah, hurrah!!! I’m grateful for the organisers who have told me about a Food Festivals Consultation Workshop that is being held on 16th November. Of course it’s Wag’s agenda, and of course Wag haven’t told us about it, and of course Ian and I aren’t invited, BUT the important issue is that it’s happening.  

I have to accept that Wag are hardly likely to admit that Welsh Country magazine and welshfoodbites can offer any help to the food industry. Maybe it’s just too difficult for them to accept that we can be of use to them and after working so hard for Welsh food over the last seven years, that’s disappointing, to say the least, but we do apprecaite it takes strong, confident people to say ‘we got it wrong.’ Our food producers however know what’s happening and our concern is for them. It’s our objective to build a better Welsh food industry, but why Wag can’t see that and work with us, is down to them. That we have to plough through the Welsh politics and Welsh Civil Service twaddle to make progress, is par for the course and will no doubt continue.

Anyway this Workshop is the good news and something that has been badly needed and is years overdue. Now we must hope that the organisers will give full and frank feedback, along with their comments, without worrying that if they ‘say the wrong thing, i.e. something Wag doesn’t wish to hear, their future funding could be in jeopardy. This is one of Wag’s main problems. I’d like to know if some of our professional food festival producers have been invited, because what is so important is that this industry is their livelihood and they too have a right to be consulted. I am well aware that some comments come back that producers shouldn’t rely on festivals, but I don’t agree with that, not every producer can plan or wants to go the supermarket way.         

What has been interesting is the response to welshfoodbites, where of course, food festivals have been a very hot topic. I have been forthright in my views of what I have seen at the food festivals I have attended. Yes ok these are my thoughts, but as a passionate Welsh foodie why am I not coming away from these events delighted to have made the effort to attend them? Well quite frankly, far too many have still got the basics wrong. I’ll not bore regular readers, yet again, by spouting my ‘could-do-better’ lists. Suffice it to say if organisers cannot get the town behind them and get basic signage out early, they shouldn’t be running and certainly not be funded.   

I didn’t attend many festivals in the north this year, which is purely down to lack of time. But of those I did attend, the ones that stood out for me that were funded were: Cowbridge and Really Wild and for non-funded ones: Big Cheese and St Fagans. But four out of twenty is not a good ratio at all from a foodie.

I have been vocal in the amount of money that Abergavenny,Cardiff and Conwy take from the festival budget and I know that Wag have this year elevated the ‘Big Three’ to international status, citing their value for tourism. But if tourism is so vital in relation to food, how much does Visit Wales put into the food festival budget? This also links into another question being asked, who are food festivals for: producers/tourism/economic development/other? But surely if food festivals are not there for food producers, why did Wag work to a criteria that this year food festivals had to have food as the core activity? Hitting some festivals hard including The Smallholder. If food producers aren’t that important to food festivals then why do organisers generally want their stands fees in so early, or maybe, being really silly, why do food producers have to pay to go to festivals at all? Another question is self-funding, which Wag have told me for years food festivals should aim to be, yet appears to contradict that statement when it raises the big three to international status and maintains their funding levels. Aren’t these three in particular capable of getting sponsorship? Because it they can’t there’s is no hope for some of the smaller ones. Let’s also be sensible here too, one size does not fit all and that applies to food festivals too – the needs for a small festival from Wag will surely be different say to Cardiff wont it?  

For once I can congratulate Wag for listening and putting on this event. I do query who will actually be attending, but at least they are making a start. Hopefully it will prove a successful meeting and maybe pave the way forward for a more profitable stable future for food producers. I’m sure I will get feedback after the meeting, maybe not of course from Wag, but that is realistically not expected.

 
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Festival Criteria Is Very Shaky

28 Jun

The situation on festivals is shaky and that’s being polite. I have never had so much criticism about the way Wag have set out their criteria and then allowed some festivals to ignore it. As expected this year, festival funding has been slashed to £368,521.36 and only 31 festivals are being supported. Last year 57 festivals were supported with a budget of £529,125,70. With such budget slash, I think most people would have expected Wag to have applied just a little commonsense as to how they could give the taxpayer best-value–for-money by making best use of the funding they’ve been allocated. First Minister Carwyn Jones said: “Indeed, it is estimated that the overall economic impact of Welsh food festivals on their host communities is annually as much as £20.3m. There is a positive knock-on effect on employment in rural areas too with around 1,125 jobs linked to food festivals”.

I’m unsure whether Mr Jones is saying these figures are from last year when he funded 57 events with nearly £530k and the economic impact of £20.3m. Well £20.3m is no mean figure, so why then with such a strong economic impact, has our festival budget been slashed so harshly that Wag is now only funding 31 festivals instead of 57. Isn’t that surely going to reduce the effect of the economic impact, not to mention the impact of 1,125 jobs? I wish my limited brain power could get to grips with political thinking.    

I’ve heard so many times from Wag’s higher management that they want food festivals to be self-supporting, so if that’s the case, why are the three largest festivals: Abergavenny, (£52k) Cardiff (£37,550) and Conwy (£41k), being given nearly £131k out of this year’s budget? All these three festivals applied for the same amount of money they received last year and got it – no budget cuts there – but why not? In 08/09, Abergavenny got £37,360, Cardiff £30k and Conwy £24,665, so Wag’s self-supporting theory, is obviously that, theory. Whilst in practice these three festivals have had increasing money thrown into their rather large pots. Any chance Wag that you can clarify your self-supporting theory? 

Wag’s criteria for this year, insists that festivals have ‘food as the core activity.’

An easy example of this was that the Smallholder was shown the red card by Wag, even though Steve Shearman had been asked years ago to run this event for them. But panic not, there will be a Food Hall at the RWAS or the Winter Fair, as Wag runs both these events and funds them out of a different budget. Please don’t ask me how much those two events cost as the only way I’d get a partial answer will be to send through a Freedom Of Information question again, but a partial answer doesn’t solve the problem. 

Crymch Food & Craft festival, which has run for years, has decided not to run this year because of the, ‘food as the core activity’. Even though their food and craft were held in two separate areas, they guessed wouldn’t fund it. However Llandysul, which as far as I’m aware has had a similar split of food and craft stalls, ran again this year and were funded by Wag £9k, a reduction of £500.00 on last year. Now how can this anomaly have occurred? Wag gave Abergavenny based Miller Research, the task of visiting all their funded festivals and reporting back to them. I’ve asked for a copy of this report as I know a producer has too, but despite the fact that the organisers had their copies months ago, I’m still waiting for mine. Does that mean my copy might be edited before I get it? So how did Wag make their decisions this year? As food was not the core activity in Llandysul in previous years, why were they funded again this year? What did the Miller Research report say about Llandysul and who made the final decision for it to be funded again?

I had a press release yesterday from Hay on Wye festival, which is excellent, because despite 31 festivals being funded I shall be lucky to get 10 press releases in total from them. If festivals don’t send out press releases, they cannot possibly get any publicity and if they don’t get publicity where do the visitors come from. Festival organisers have a duty to the producers to ensure that they do their utmost to generate publicity and get people through their gates. I’m fed-up of hearing from organisers that ‘they don’t have an advertising budget’ what is core accurate is that they haven’t allocated money to advertise their event, but instead spending money on expensive chefs and aren’t bothering to tell their traders what they are doing. Traders pay their money up front and in good faith and organisers should communicate with them their plans for their event. Anyway back to Hay press releases, in the first paragraph it said busy event and estimated 4,000 people there and in the second paragraph at least 5,000 people. Well guess you can take your choice but it does raise two issues, who counted all those people as I understand it’s a free event and where on earth in Hay did all those people manage to park their cars?            

You only have to read welshfoodbites to see what massive interest and concern there is about food festivals. Regular readers will know that Wag Food Press Office have since March, refused to answer any questions from me, in case I blog it and upset as they say they have no right of reply! Well I’ve had had to remind them that when Wag food were working with us in 2008 and 2009 there was no negative food news at all published in Welsh Country magazine. Yet behind the scenes, that was a different matter. No-one should under-estimate the amount of hard work that was going behind the scenes whilst my team tried to get some communication going between the food producers and Wag. The Press Office then told me not to talk to Wag officials directly, but to talk to them. When that system didn’t work too well, I decided to create welshfoodbites in July 2010. Initially the idea was to use it for questions I wasn’t getting answers to, but in effect it has provided a forum for all foodies to air their views and ask their questions.

As far as Welsh Country is concerned, Wag sadly has now had negative coverage. We were waiting and waiting for the list of food festivals which was promised, but again did not arrive so that was published. I have no intention at all of apologizing for doing this, in fact Wag should be very grateful I haven’t devoted pages of welshfoodbites in every issue of Welsh Country. My reason for not doing so is not to save their blushes, because in the world of Wag, nothing is ever wrong. Wag appear to work under the B.S.E. rule, Blame Someone Else. The only reason, so far that I’m holding back is that I feel I should try and paint a picture of positivity in our Welsh food world. The only worry for Wag now is my pot of paint is running very, very low ……………………..……..

 
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Llyn Land & Seafood Festival 28th & 29th May

31 May

 It’s some years since I travelled north to Pwllheli to check out this festival, but despite a poor weather forecast I went there on Sunday.

There were a few AA signs driving into Pwllheli which was an improvement on my last visit, but of course more would have been much helpful in attracting even greater numbers of people to visit the Marina. My concern is swelling those visitor numbers and not just relying on locals who should know about the festival and where it is being held.

There were 24 food stands there on Sunday, including a bread man who wasn’t there on Saturday as he was busy doing a market and I spotted 5 True Taste winners too. The traders I spoke to were pleased with the event and had done reasonably well, so that was so good to hear. James from Ralph’s Cider had a good time too and had lots of people not just sampling, but purchasing too and appreciating what good cider and perry this company produces. 

I did wonder whether a £3.00 entrance fee would put people off. Possibly it’s just me that’s anti entrance fees, because the only real freebie was the cookery demos, so I’d love to hear your view on entrance fees. Two adults paying £6.00 to go in, or an extra £6.00 in their pocket to buy ice-creams, jams, chutney, cider etc. it is after all the traders that really need those sales and no more so than in this difficult trading time when everyone is looking for value-for-money and quality food too.   

A good attraction was a paid-for face painting for the kids, that was very popular with people patiently queuing for their child to be transformed into lions, tigers or fairies – that was great fun for them.  There was a cookery demo area too, but when I was wandering around it was used between demos with some musical entertainment, which was a good use of time and space.

It never ceases to amaze me though why traders will go to festivals and markets without business cards or any literature. PR & Marketing is an important part of any business and that does include food too. Come on guys, do the job properly!

I understand that Wag don’t want craft stands at their food events, I await official confirmation on this and so have no idea on their reasoning for this decision, unless they think that Wag are therefore subsidising the crafters. But if that’s the case what’s their view on the non-food stands that were at this festival: the county council, air ambulance, coastguard, coleg menai, and the pharmacy? Are charities excused, or are they looked at being subsidised or simply adding the the event? My view is that some quality craft stands do add to a food event and the longer the people stay there on site, browsing, chatting, eating and drinking, the better.

There was another tented area along with the food marquee that had tables, chairs and food and drink available. I think this was provided by the Sailing Club which was next door and in my view it was just a pity that it couldn’t have been worked to help the producers who had paid and travelled to attend. I’m not saying that this would be easy to arrange, but surely it’s something that is worth looking at for the future. My other huge disappointment was that though this event is titled as a land and seafood fest, there was only one fresh fish stand and one smoked fish stand. I’m not sure what happened to all the other fish producers, where were they? I certainly expected to see many more, especially as this event was situated just by the sea.

 
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West Wales Food Festival

16 May

National Botanical Gardens, NBG, was the venue and as I opted out last year, I made a point of visiting yesterday. My first stop was for a welcome cup of coffee at the café by the entrance. Not a good start as it took 20 minutes to get served and the lady in charge of the coffee machine couldn’t supply a mocha coffee as it wasn’t on her list. The fact that she was so slow producing coffees didn’t help either. She was obviously feeling under pressure, but that was no excuse for her sharpness with customers – many of them elderly – it’s hardly a great welcome to the NBG. But what really upset me, was seeing one of those elderly lady’s purchase a piece of pottery for £10.00, she paid at the counter and neither of the two assistants could be bothered to offer her a bag, let alone wrap her purchase in tissue paper. Thankfully someone stepped in before I had to and she was then offered a bag. Let’s just leave that scenario with further training needed and memo to all staff, that without customers you will not have a job unless ‘someone’ finds further funding to keep you going!!! 

I’d picked up a programme in the entrance hall and listened to people muttering about having to pay £8.50 each to visit the food fair. I too couldn’t believe it, as last year I was told it entrance was free. Why was this changed and why weren’t the traders told of this before NBG took their money? £17.00 for a couple to come in to a food festival is not on! I don’t accept that people can also view the gardens; the fact is if they just wish to attend and support the food festival then entrance should be free. My suggestion is that NBG make entrance free and use the opportunity to recruit members or they let traders attend for free. I talked to a few traders who had no idea people were being charged and horrified when told how much. They were understandably upset about the poor attendance and blamed NBG for a lack of marketing & advertising and unfairness in not telling them that visitors this year were being charged – it’s quite simply not fair.

I talked to a trader who was outside the main food marquee and doing hot food, he’d asked how many outside caterers there were going to be and was told the same as last year. Fair enough if that was true but it wasn’t and the entrance fee also hit sales. Traders understand in this climate that sales will be down but looking at 10-15% but this company was down 70% on last year and NBG must take on board a lot of that responsibility. The hot food people also felt out of things as they were sited at the back and there were just not enough tables and chairs for the public to use and eat their produce or just have a coffee from Preseli coffee – which was superb, entrance café please take notes!!! You must also bear in mind that as well as the entrance café, there’s also NBG food in the Glass House as well as the NBG’s restaurant – the restaurant had a full page advert in the free programme, but the food traders only warranted a half page note in the programme as did the craft people. There wasn’t a list of which food producers were attending either so I think that appears to show how much value NBG seem to put on the food producers, which is really not a lot. From an outsider’s point of view the focus seemed to be on the activity/cookery demo programme which took up three pages of the programme and was certainly very busy with lots for the children too.

My timing was good enough to catch Steve Terry in action and I’ve not seen him working since I was invited to judge on Great British Menu TV programme and had to visit his restaurant The Hardwicke, Abergavenny. Well I do get some tough jobs, dear reader, but they have to be done!!! Steve continues to be one of Wales’ most talented chefs. He had a great way with the audience and really got them involved. My only gripe would be that I’d have loved to see him and all chefs at demos – use the food from the producers that are attending. In fairness Steve did mention quite a few local companies he used and why he used them – but there are still lots more to do on this side. Steve was followed by chef Gareth Johns another star in the Welsh Culinary Crown. I’d love to have seen in the programme a brief CV on the chefs as well.

The craft people who were positioned in the Glass House were playing the tradestanders game of ‘spot-the-punter’. There was hardly anyone there when I went around, but having said that, and I know it’s not easy to do, it does help if traders try not to give the impression they are bored and at least acknowledged the visitors that were there, and a smile and hello is always a good start.

We’d emailed through to NBG on Thursday asking for a list of food producers attending but sad to say our email was deleted and of course we didn’t get our list – so that’s not a helpful attitude, seems to sum up a lot of what is happening at NBG.

End Of Event Report:

Must try harder & must do better. Communicate with your tradestanders and tell them the truth.

 
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Llanwrtyd Wells Food Festival Pulls The Plug For 2011

02 Dec

I was sad to learn in a phone call from Chef Peter James this morning that his committee has reluctantly decided not to run their food festival next year. This long running festival folding and one which we have been involved with as media sponsors for five years, is very upsetting and I fear, a sign of bleak times ahead for the food industry. Peter and his team have had to make this decision now as they have been told by WAG Food, as I have that, they will not know whether there is food festival funding until the end of January. As Llawnrtyd Wells takes place early April, it really doesn’t give them much of a choice does it?  

As regards Food Festivals I have been saying the same thing for too many years; the funding scheme really wasn’t fair. Large festivals were well funded, despite them having the opportunity not only to charge an entrance fee but to attract sponsors – yet they could still take the lion’s share of this ever-decreasing budget. To my mind this wasn’t a difficult scenario, as was evaluating festivals to see if they were doing a decent job. But it was only this year, as the credit crunch bit even harder, Welsh Assembly Government, WAG Food brought in Miller Research to survey all the festivals. Like me you might well ask, why now, to what end is this all about? But on that we shall just have to wait and see if we get told when their job has been done. Although Peter’s festival took place eight months ago, he’s still not had any feedback through yet, not even an interim report. I’m not saying that if Peter had got any feedback, that the outcome for 2011 would be any different, but I know how many hoops organisers have to jump through, ‘ticking WAG boxes’ but where WAG fail is that they don’t feedback. Communication as always is the key, but it appears WAG haven’t got key………

 I’m sure that this will not be the only festival to give up the struggle in 2011 and Wales will certainly be the poorer for it.

 I’d like to thank Peter and his hard-working team of volunteers for all their efforts over the years, it’s one of the friendliest festivals we went too – hence we were keen to take on the role of media sponsors. I hope that WAG Food will also pass on their thanks too……………………………………………………….

 
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Abergavenny Food Festival 18th -19th September

21 Sep

This festival certainly sets the bar high in terms of putting on a good food show and this year was no exception. Saturday I understand was tremendously busy, with people having to wait to go into the Market Hall due to huge numbers of people eager to see some of the True Taste winners.  Sunday when I attended was a little quieter than Saturday and it was a pleasure to talk to many producers who had had a very busy and very profitable show. It was good to hear this as many food festivals and farmers markets are showing a hefty downturn in trade. 

However I have yet to do the rounds of a festival without hearing complaints!! But it’s my job to listen and evaluate whether it’s just one disgruntled producer or there’s more………….. Well one regular moan is producers who have not been able to get a stand in the first place or been told that they have been coming for a years and visitors want a change! Well I don’t accept that ‘visitors’ want a change, why would they? They are only making an annual visit and they like to know that a particular favourite producer of theirs will be there and just as importantly where they will be! Wearing a Press badge, I got stopped quite a few times and asked ‘where’s such and such a stand, they always used to be in one place now they aren’t there…..’ Another query was a lady who had checked out on the Aber website website before travelling, but then on Sunday the stand she really wanted wasn’t there. I can only assume the producer only did Saturday but that certainly annoyed that visitor. It seems a few stands did only attend on the Saturday and it was supposed to stop too many similar stands but this festival is so popular and seems to have plenty of helpers why not make more use of the streets and do runs of stands instead of one then walk a bit and then another……….

I counted around 190 stands, but 75 of these were not Welsh. I have commented in the past about the garlic man who travels from the Isle of Wight, well this year he did not come alone I noted a few including one stand doing only tomatoes. With Abergavenny’s geographical position so close to the border, having companies from the border countries is understandable, but Cornwall, London and Italy to just name a few is fair enough if our Welsh producers are not turned away. Abergavenny organisers have never said that they are a, ‘Welsh Food Festival’ but they do take funding from the Welsh Assembly Government. So the question has to be asked why is the Welsh Assembly Government supporting, albeit indirectly, stands from many hundreds of miles away and other smaller truly Welsh Food Festivals are struggling to survive? I guess I’ll get the response it’s also European money so we can’t turn stands away, but in fact they are turning Welsh stands away and as there’s also a Welsh Assembly supported Food Festival in Aberystwyth also running on the Saturday could those from outside Wales not be directed to that one?  I can understand the huge problems the festival committee have in allocating stands, they are in some ways a victim of their success but might it help if by the end of this year we are told how tradestands will be allocated- what criteria they are working too?  

After years of complaining that Welsh food is not served in the hospitality area, I’m delighted to report that this year it was! What a difference it made too and a useful showcase for our wonderful products. I was also delighted to see guests enjoying bottles of beer from Breconshire Breweries – well done Abergavenny. 

With such pressure of budgets, I am sure that food will not escape cuts and I am aware that food festivals are already being evaluated. I think it is time for the larger festivals, like Abergavenny to be self-funded and maybe they could be persuaded to help the smaller festivals that are finding things increasingly difficult, for some help and advice.

I can only congratulate Abergavenny for doing such a tremendous job this weekend and I must finish by saying how polite and helpful the volunteers I encountered were.

 
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Gastronomic Tourism Kicks Off In Mold

31 Aug

I’m delighted to hear that Mold Food & Drink Festival and Flintshire Tourism Association have joined forces to create Flintshire’s first ever Food Conference. It takes place on 24th September at the Beaufort Park Hotel, near Mold.

The objective is to source the best Welsh local suppliers and bring in the hospitality businesses to meet, greet and taste the best Welsh produce – the goal is to impress tourists and visitors and no doubt local people too. The one day event will cover Speed tasting, The Great Food Debate and Culinary Tourism.

If you’re a food producer, retailer or in the hospitality business and want to learn more about how to develop your business, book your space now by visiting: www.moldfoodfestival.co.uk/Conference.

My congratulations to all involved in taking the initiative to set-up this conference. Events like this a very much needed and I do hope that the day is a huge success.

 
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Tradestands At Food Festivals

10 Aug

I have had too many comments over last few months from food producers who are not happy with some food festivals. Visitor numbers down is one complaint, with the other one being that not many people are spending. Well there is little choice but to accept if the organisers have got the visitors to their event, then the onus is on the producers to try and clinch those much needed sales. However if organisers are failing to attract visitors to their event, then you have to question what their PR & Marketing plans are – well that’s if they have them. Now that is not a flip comment, as I am well aware that many food festivals are totally reliant on volunteers and many volunteers have never done PR/Marketing/Advertising before.

The Welsh Country team ring around the festivals that are supported by Welsh Assembly Government, WAG Food, hoping of course that they will come with us on the advertising side. If they do then we can really help by giving them editorial in the next issue of Welsh Country and also put all their Press Releases on our website, giving them additional ways to gain extra publicity for their event. But when we are told ‘they’ haven’t planned their advertising for a festival two months away, or even worse don’t have any advertising budget, despite money from WAG – then my alarm bells start ringing. They have taken up front money for tradestands from producers, but haven’t bothered working out how they are going to get local people there – let alone any visitors or holidaymakers. Ok I have a PR & Marketing background, but this really isn’t that tough a job, it just needs planning and preparation and some hard work. If help is needed, surely WAG can give some guidance…………………….

This is really something that needs looking at and at least give our food producers a fair crack of the whip to sell their produce – it is their livelihood after all.

 
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Abergavenny Food Festival Conference 2010

29 Jul

 I’ve just received a Press Release from Welsh Assembly Government, WAG, which has been sent around our Best Of Welsh producers, (BOW) for their information. Included in the release  is the following:  

Abergavenny Food Festival Conference

This year’s Abergavenny Food Festival Conference will be of particular interest to anyone involved in food festivals or in the role of food in building local economies.

“Food Festivals: The Next Generation” will take a hard look at where food festivals are now and the ways in which they can evolve. Guest speakers will address issues such as growing a festival without losing touch with producers, how local food and food events can make a town successful, approaches to measuring the success of festivals, and new ways of developing a loyal audience and marketing festivals through an online community.  

 Workshop sessions will include:

  • An interactive tour of Abergavenny, to look at how food can be used to bring the town alive;
  • A Dragon’s Den for new festival ideas;
  • Hands-on session on using social media;
  • Practical branding – how to position an event to appeal to a wider audience.

The Conference takes place on 17th September 2010, at the Priory Centre, Abergavenny. Tickets cost £125, including lunch, post-conference drinks reception and two-day festival stroller ticket.

I’ve quickly had a comment through gritted teeth I think, from a producer who rightly queries, who this conference is really for? With a price ticket of £125.00 I agree with this producer’s comment that it’s for a select few whose ticket might well be paid for by their employers, i.e. by county councils or maybe the majority from WAG…….

Why not invite some smaller producers to it? The producers are the important link in this food chain, but it’s not the view I get from our BOW producers, they feel left out. I am losing all faith in Wales’ ability to communicate with our food producers, they really must learn to listen to the people that really matter and that has to be our producers – without them you don’t have a festival or even a farmers market.  

I’m not annoyed with Abergavenny for at least organising a conference but most concerend about the high price and those it will therefore exclude.

 
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Lampeter Food Festival – 24th July

26 Jul

I wonder how many food producers are aware how little signage there is at many food festivals. Do the organisers assume that ‘everyone’ knows where their festival is being held? Or are they focused on just attracting local people to their event?  Because we have had a stand there for the last few years and as it’s fairly local to us, it didn’t cause us a problem, but the first sign we saw was opposite the gates to Lampeter University – indicating the entrance!! Come on organisers, make an effort to attract more visitors please, our producers need every opportunity possible to make sales.

 
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