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Plans for festival of food left on shelf
NO major food festival will be held in the Havant area this year for the first time in eight years.
The organisers of A Thought for Food in Havant – put on by the same team behind the Emsworth Food Festival – have pulled the plug on the event.
The credit crunch, coupled with a less-than- expected turnout at the Stansted Park festival last September, meant organisers only just broke even.
Now Alistair Gibson, the director of the festival, has decided it will not go ahead this year and the future remains uncertain.
Mr Gibson, The News's wine correspondent, said he had wanted to carry on the spirit of the extremely successful Emsworth Food Festival, which at its peak attracted 50,000 visitors to the village over a weekend.
'I loved the whole thing and everything that went with the Emsworth Food Festival.
'A Thought for Food was hopefully something that could be carried forward, but it wasn't to be, that's life,' he said.
While Mr Gibson and co-director Lulu Bowerman, pictured, received high praise for the festival layout, which included a range of producers, cookery demonstrations and wine tastings, the elements conspired against them.
Torrential rain hit visitor numbers, and there was also controversy when saboteurs painted over dozens of signs giving directions to the festival.
'We were looking forward to 12,000 to 15,000, but only got around 5,000 to 6,000. We just didn't get the numbers,' said Mr Gibson.
With the internationally renowned Emsworth Food Festival scrapped after the 2007 event because it had become too big for the area, it means there will be no major food festival in the Havant borough.
'I'm a passionate foodie and I'm passionate about organic local produce and support local producers,' said Mr Gibson.
'So we will be constantly looking at opportunities that arise and who knows what will happen in 2010.'
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Saturday 11 February 2012
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