Forum topic: Festival 2018

A splendid 2018 festival seems to be had by all. Huge thanks to the significant number of volunteers who came forward at the very last minute after some desperate requests with a necessary cancellation looming as late as Thursday - we really can’t run this event without sizeable man power on the day given the logistics and safety issues involved. So if there’s to be a 2019 equivalent we really need substantial community skin in the game, and the more donations the better it will be. Think of the latter as your entry fee. Donations via the festival web site, where you can also offer to volunteer.

Two of three lost mobile phones found at festival have been successfully handed back to their owners. The third has been charged up and reveals this home screen photo. Maybe someone recognises? (There’s a chance this could be the phone lost at Talkies in the Park in the Dark on Friday.)

What a wonderful Festival! Many thanks to Phillip, Karl and everyone else who worked hard to make it such a success.

I liked the new configuration, which makes good use of the shape of the boating pond and also means that people going along Aldermans Hill can easily spot that something special is happening in the park. The Speakers Corner was excellent, I just wish I'd been able to spend more time at it. Perhaps some speakers corners could be organised between festivals?

Every year towards 7pm I make sure of visiting the Dance Zone, because this is the last thing in the Festival to finish. As the sun goes down the light turns gold and the atmosphere is magical. The way the couples move together in harmony sums up the PG Festival's ethos. The sun is setting on this year's Festival, but there will be another to look foward to next year...

But there will only be a 2019 Festival if enough of us heed Karl's words:
The website is at www.palmersgreenfestival.org.uk

Unusually the local press didn’t print thanks for Festival, instead deciding to highlight a letter about litter in the same park as more newsworthy, so here it is for PGC instead:-

An extremely enjoyable Palmers Green Festival took place on Sunday, visited by significant numbers of people and with feedback from all stakeholders being highly positive. Such has been the early response that after a chance to recuperate, and ideally seeing some early financial support, we will be considering repeating the event in 2019.
But as for 2018, a special mention, as always, has to go to the local volunteers who develop the festival and the many who come to support it on the day with tasks such as carrying, traffic control, safety management, visitor question-answering and much more, and without whom this leading borough event simply couldn’t happen.
Their time is given over for everyone enjoyment; and that’s not such a bad role model for everyone to consider.


Sam McElwee, who was a winner in the Portrait of Britain competition announced the Thursday just before Festival, undertook his first post-win assignment in between various live TV interviews to photograph Festival for us – free. Basil has already used his photo of the sun-setting dance zone. This one is of the helicopter ride, the first time John Biddle has brought this particular ride to Festival.