THE ORGANISERS of the Christchurch Food Festival have announced that this years’ event is due to go head after being postponed until August Bank Holiday.

The free festival, which is usually held on the Early May Bank Holiday, will now be held Saturday August 28 to Monday August 30 on Christchurch Quay.

In an announcement made on their website and social media pages, planners of the event have decided to delay the popular festival by 16 weeks after saying it was “not realistic” to keep the event to its initial’s dates in May.

The statement said: “It's a little later than usual (for this year only) because it was clear to us that the idea of running the Festival in May was not realistic and the idea of cancelling for a second year and all that would mean for the traders, suppliers, freelance event staff and local community was not an option.

“We would like to thank BCP and Christchurch Town Council for fully supporting this move and working with us to make it happen.

“We are also extremely pleased to also announce the support of Saxe Coburg Property Experts who join us as the title supporter of this year's event. Their generous support will help us deliver the very best event possible and ensure that we can continue to put together a fantastic event that Christchurch has become synonymous for.”

Bournemouth Echo:

Launched in 2000, the Christchurch Food Festival was run as a Community Interest Company (CIC) until two yeas ago.

The popular event, which will celebrate its 21st instalment this year, attracted nearly 75,000 people to the streets of Christchurch in 2019.

The Festival has now been taken on by a previous member of the committee who also run Real Food Festivals, who stage other food festivals and markets in the Dorset area.

A decision has been made to move the event from Christchurch High Street to the Quay as the addition space will allow organisers to better enforce social distancing measures, if they are still required.

To help build excitement for the Bank Holiday occasion, a succession of pop-up events are to be arranged for the lead-up to the three-day affair, thanks to Christchurch Food Festival’s partners Onyx Events.

Bournemouth Echo:

 “As part of our planning for this year in the new post covid world we will be living in, we have decided that the event will only take place on Christchurch Quay this year,” the statement added.

“If there is any requirement to manage social distancing by this time, the High Street is a space that it would be impossible to control - and the safety of everyone - our traders, staff and visitors - is paramount to how we will be managing this year's event.

“As an extra aperitif to the main event, we will also be running a series of pop-up restaurant events in the beautiful setting of the Quayside in the days running up to the festival.

“Brought to you by our partners Onyx Events who ran the successful Lymington Pop-Ups last year, these promise to bring a fabulous feast of food and drink to showcase the very best local produce and chef talent.”