Report: Kirkby Lonsdale Fork Fest 2011 (From The Westmorland Gazette)
When news happens, text KENEWS and your photos and videos to 80360. Or contact us by email or phone.
Shows & fairs RSS Feed Send your news, pictures & videos
Report: Kirkby Lonsdale Fork Fest 2011
3:16pm Wednesday 7th September 2011 in Shows & fairs
HIGH TEA: Karen Halstead, Rebecca Calvert and Rose Halstead ready to serve in the Great British Afternoon Tea Tent at Kirkby Lonsdale’s successful Fork Fest.
KIRKBY Lonsdale’s food festival’s popularity is continuing to grow – as twice as many people turned out for the second annual event.
More than 5,000 people took to the streets to sample the best local produce from Cumbria, Lancashire and North Yorkshire at Fork Fest 2011 .
Event organiser Fiona Robinson said: “It was fantastic to get nearly twice as many people as we had last year. The town was jam packed with people looking around stalls at the market and at the play park. We expanded this year with the Great British Afternoon Tea Tent and with 5k and 10k races which attracted people.”
Now in its second year, Fork Fest, has replaced Kirkby Lonsdale’s long-standing Victorian Fair as a celebration of local food and drink.
Among the entertainment were demonstrations from ex-Coronation Street star Sean Wilson ,of the Saddleworth Cheese Company, and Chris Wildman from Pagnum Produce who created dishes using Yorkshire Chorizo sausage.
A beer tent with local ales and live music kept adults entertained while a children’s tent with circus skills classes and art provided something for all the family.
But the festival’s ‘piece de resistance’ was the Great British Afternoon Tea Tent, which was decked out in bunting and Union Jack flags and served up cake, tea and jugs of Pimms.
Karen Halstead of Wray’s Bridge House Farm cafe supplied the cakes and served up tea in vintage cups and teapots.
Fiona said: “Food is really important for the region and local people believe in providing and serving good food. Kirkby Lonsdale is very much about food – ten restaurants in a small town is testament to that – and with quality food pioneered in the surrounding areas Fork Fest is a great celebration.”
Awards given out as part of the beer festival went to the Hawkshead Brewery’s Cumbria Five Hop for the best beer, Cowmire Hall AOC Damson Buster for the best cider and Bowland Brewery’s Sawley Tempted for the best real ale.
