Food festival experiences ‘record-breaking weekend’ as heatwave brings visitors to South Shields
A free food festival has once again proven to be a hit in South Shields.
The Great North Feast in the Park experienced record turnouts as it returned to South Shields over the bank holiday weekend.
The annual free food festival, which takes place in Bents Park, ran from Saturday, May 23, until Monday, May 25 - with thousands of people visiting.
Helped by a heatwave that brought temperatures of around 30°C to the borough, many took the opportunity to head to the seafront to enjoy the Spring Bank Holiday.
Organisers of The Great North Feast in the Park revealed on social media that the crowds has “smashed all expectations” as those who visited enjoyed street food, refreshing drinks, children’s entertainment and live music.
The ninth year
With the event now in it’s ninth year, organiser Mark Deakin has previously spoken about what it means to keep hosting the event in South Shields.
He said: “This is a great event and it is a free event that we fully self-fund but it does need people to support it.
“We have a great relationship with the events team at South Tyneside Council so it is always great to bring it back to Bents Park.
“The support we get for the street food in particular is always great, it feels like we could fill it three or four times over with just street food vendors alone.
“We’ve worked with many of them for a long time and a lot of the vendors who started with us have gone on to open restaurants so it is great to see.”
A call for support
Before the event got underway, Mark had called on members of the public to come out and support the event due to the events industry going through a “very difficult period”.
He commented: “We put on a three-day free event where people can come along to enjoy some food, look at the stalls, listen to live music and get involved in family activities.
“We need people to support it if they want it to continue for years to come.
“Even if people come along for an hour to buy a drink or some food, it goes a long way to helping us continue in the future.”
The Great North Feast in the Park will return to South Shields over the August Bank Holiday weekend - full details are at: https://www.properfoodanddrinkfestivals.co.uk/.