Organisers of the popular St Ann’s Well Gardens spring festival have warned that without more funding this year’s event, held tomorrow, may be its last.
The Friends of St Ann’s Well Gardens had to cancel last year’s Welloween children’s party, and is increasingly struggling to secure sponsorship fro local businesses in a “rocky economic climate”.
The Friends, a registered charity, is now calling on people to help raise £10,000 to ensure the spring festival continues next year.
Festival organiser Kate Packham said: “The local Brighton & Hove community and families absolutely love this free day out in their public park.
“More than 10,000 people pass through the event on the day, enjoying dozens of children’s activities, market stalls, wellbeing retreat area, an incredible varied food offering and an absolutely fantastic main stage line up of music and live bands.
“And entry is free, a key factor for local families these days. You only need to witness the sheer joy on the children’s faces throughout the day and see the crowds watching the main stage in pleasure – and usually some May sunshine, to realise this is one of the city’s best loved community events still going today in Brighton & Hove.”
Katie and the event team, all of whom are volunteers, say they are determined to make tomorrow’s festival the finest yet, but despite the newly opening Little Forest Nursery signing up as a sponsor, and income from stalls, they are barely breaking even.
Earlier this year, the Kemp Town Carnival announced it would not be able to stage the carnival this year for the second year running – but said with the Palace Pier on board as sponsors, it was confident it would return in 2019.
And last year, the Friends of Queen’s Park cancelled their Picnic in the Park and Bark in the Park events to concentrate its resources on securing more funding to improve the park in the face of budget cuts.
