Do you want to be part of Earlsdon Festival?

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Coventry’s biggest community festival will be celebrating its 40th birthday this year - and you could be a part of it



Every year since 1978, the Earlsdon Festival becomes Coventry’s biggest street market for the day.

This year, it will be held on May 7, with around 10,000 visitors expected.

An image harking back to the very first festival has been released - it shows Mr and Mrs Mills and staff outside their newsagents during the 1978 festival.

The newsagents was later transformed into what is now Millsy’s Cafe Bar.

Earlsdon will be completely transformed into a local bonanza for the event.

Earlsdon Primary School’s playground will be transformed into a hub for children’s activities - and if you don’t want a market stall, more “pitches” are available here but you will need to bring you own equipment.

James Whateley, chairman of the organising team, said; “It’s going to be a very special occasion as we mark 40 years since the original Earlsdon Village Festival took place in 1978.

“Earlsdon Street will once again become Coventry’s biggest street market for the day, selling all kinds of everything. The stalls are an ideal platform for the city’s creative community to showcase their wares as well as being a great way for charities, good causes and community groups to promote themselves.

“If you want one now is the time to apply.”

Both Coventry RFC and Wasps have accepted invitations to be part of the festivities. A week long fringe programme of events will take place prior to the festival which will include music gigs, poetry evening, ukulele gathering and a cake competition.

Applications for stalls and food concessions are being accepted until January 26. For more information and to apply, go to http://www.earlsdonfestival.com

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Change to Earlsdon Festival has sparked a row



A row has broken after Earlsdon Festival organisers decided not to give stalls to local shops - with one business owner claiming the event has “lost the community ethos”.

Debbie Evitt - director of Kendalls of Earlsdon, a deli on Earlsdon Street - contacted the Telegraph after her business was snubbed in the race for a stall.

Organisers have defended the move, saying the local shops will benefit from the large crowds which turn up for the popular festival.

Mrs Evitt said: “We applied for a pitch as usual but the vendors go out to tender and we were told that as there were other vendors coming in similar to us, we were unsuccessful.

“We will be open on the day as usual but it’s very difficult to get people across our threshhold when they are walking up and down the street looking at stalls.

“It is a shame that businesses that make Earlsdon successful 365 days a year and pay business rates and employ local people are not given the opportunity to have a stall in the main foot fall area of the festival,” she added.

Mrs Evitt’s husband Ray was an original founder of the event and said: “The festival has been a real community event. In the past all the local shops got offered a stand if they wished and usually had priority.

“The festival has lost the community ethos that it used to have.

“That seems to have gone by the wayside and the response has been willy nilly and dismissive. Kendalls have always supported the festival.

“It was never about making money, it was about being part of the community and I’ve now got a team of young people who are really cheesed off.”

Mrs Evitt added: “I really support the local community and give plenty to it. It has been suggested online that we don’t volunteer, but I can’t do two things at once and I’ll still have a business to run.

“I don’t want to blame the volunteers, we just feel disappointed that we haven’t been given an opportunity.”