A new festival for Swanage is being planned - "Local Food, World Music" will take place on 5, 6, 7 June 2009. Further information, as it becomes known, will be available on www.swanagelife.com
Posted by steve darrington to swanageview at 4:53 AM
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I have heard talk before of a Purbeck Food Festival. Is this the same thing or something different: there probably isn't room for two food festivals is there//?
After the bank holiday at the end of May, it all goes quiet again for a while. Last year I said I wanted to do a World Music Festival in June 2007, but was advised against it due to conflicting with a proposed Swanage Food Festival, which didn't take place after all. Shame for the new food festival, shame for the new world music festival - Swanage lost two new festivals this June.
If you go to purbeck.gov.uk, then Tourism, then Food and Drink, then Food and Drink Festivals, you will see many different Food and Drink festivals in Purbeck - of which my proposed festival would be another.
Now let's consider this: just because there's a Dorset Food Week, doesn't mean there can't be a Purbeck Food Festival. (A search of the Internet didn't show me anything about a Purbeck Food Festival.) Even if there were a Purbeck Food Festival, that wouldn't prevent a Swanage Food Festival. But this isn't even that, it's the Swanage "Local Food, World Music" Festival. Very different, and got a nice ring to it, hasn't it?
I know there is a lot of support for what I do in this town with the blues festivals in October and March, but if I'm going to be treading on people's toes by including 'Local Food' in the title, then I'll scrap the idea.
Thankfully so far, with very little publicity, I've received support from the Grand Hotel, Purbeck Vineyard, Chococo, Moonlight Bistro, Ship Inn, Purbeck Delicatessen, Licensed Victuallers Association and the Holiday Accommodation Association.
If you own, run or just work at any other food or drink business and you'd like to know more, please contact me. Details at the new website www.swanagelife.com
It might be worth getting in touch with Sally Goldsack from Goldy's (if you haven't already). She gave a good presentation at the recent Swanage Future conference about promoting local food...
Is that the conference/talk that no one knew about?
No.
It was very well advertised.
Please keep this topic on track, That conference has been commented on elsewhere.
Each festival I organise brings in at least £135,000 of extra business into Swanage (estimate by Holiday Accommodation Association).
That's worth forgetting old animosities for, isn't it?
How about everybody being positive and coming up with suggestions like Goldys? (Thanks Mr Postman)
Festivals are an excellent way of bringing extra money in to the town. The businesses that benefit from them should contribute to the cost. Any extra trade they get has cost them nothing to acquire, it adds nothing to their fixed costs and hence is more profitable to them. This seems to be difficult for many of them to understand. Unfortunately there is still a mentality which says that trade here is washed in by the tide and does not need to be paid for.
But the people/person who organise these things do so without a vote? Would the fox hunter’s weekend be valued? The gay and lesbian weekend?
Nuclear power for all ?
Why are the costs fixed if you get more customers you need more staff more heating lighting etc its a great way to make money and most bussines I know make a contribution to steve.
And P.S it was not widely known mike sorry I know a good few people who did not realsie till the day.
To Anonymous who wrote:
"But the people/person who organise these things do so without a vote?"
Thankfully, as yet in this country, you don't need a vote to put your own money and time into making something happen. You don't need a vote to organise a party - that's what the blues festivals are, and what this new festival can be too.
You see, the process is simple. I have an idea, I ask people if they wish to take part, they say yes or no. If enough people say yes, it happens. The people who say no don't take part. The people who say yes, do.
The process itself is a Vote!
Now my interests are music, which I know a bit about, and improving the town's economy, which is desirable for everybody. The 'local food' issue is one that is becoming increasingly popular too, and we are particularly blessed in this area with our own local brewery, vineyard, ice cream and chocolate companies, plus all the farm produce and much more. People who come to a world music festival are all going to eat and drink, so what a great opportunity to promote our jolly good local fare.
As for your own particular interests, if you want to organise something involving fox-hunting nuclear supporters, gay or otherwise, that's up to you!
I did not say that the costs of running a business are fixed. Is someone being deliberately obtuse I wonder? In any business there are fixed costs and variable costs. The former are things like rent, rates, capital depreciation. The latter include wages, maintenance of equipment, raw materials etc. If you have extra business at a time when there is spare capacity in your business the cost to you of the extra business is only the variable costs. As a result each unit of extra business is more profitable than each unit of your normal business and it can be worthwhile to contribute to the cost of getting that extra business. So for example if you are Mr or Ms big in the grommet business and your factory buzzes all day with grommet makers going about their tasks the cost of increasing output if you are offered a lucrative contract, by for, example introducing an evening shift, is pretty much only the wages, power and raw materials.
In our case we have businesses that are running but not busy for large parts of the year so the extra cost to them of more customers at these times is lower still. If they are hotel that shuts completely thats more if a problem but if its a shop or cafe thats open and nearly empty this applies.
Who could possibly object to a gay and lesbian weekend? An excellent idea. If it works for Disneyland it will work for Swanage.
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