Well summer has flown by and autumn is already here. I’m not sure we can look back at very many balmy sunny days lazing at the beach and eating ice-cream. But we do have great memories of our summer of events.
Since we have our shop in lovely Newcastle Emlyn, why would we want to leave it behind sometimes and hit the road? I’ll admit there have been times hefting boxes and putting up shop tents in the pouring rain when we have asked ourselves the same question!
By far our biggest event of the year is Shrewsbury Folk Festival, where Jill has been trading for the last 10 years (although she still struggles to remember the names of some of our fellow traders). This takes place on August bank holiday weekend and showcases the best in folk music, as well as some very fine food and beers – did I mention the beer? Its a great chance to meet up with returning customers (buying the festival ‘must have’ ankle bells for the second year running) or hob-nob with the famous (like one of our music highlights Sheelanagig) and with the infamous (Pirate Jim Bones).
It is also an amazing festival for children and our managing director has a whale of a time. As you know, keeping the boss happy is our number one priority.
However for us it is a lot of hard work, with absolutely no messing about!
At the other end of the scale to Shrewsbury is The Big Cwtch Summer Party. This is a local festival in only its 3rd year and is run as a charity event to raise money for Ski4All Wales. The music showcases local welsh bands and once again there are plenty of great food, beer and children’s activities.
So why do we take our show on the road when we can? Well obviously we enjoy it, but it is also a chance to take the Fairtrade message to a wider audience and to show that, even when festival shopping in the sunshine with a drink in your hand, you can still make ethical choices. This is the first year we have been trading as a BAFTS accredited shop and our shiny new certificate took pride of place at all events. It also gives us the opportunity to act as tourism ambassadors for our lovely Fairtrade home town.
And did we mention the beer…