Town festival date looks set to be moved

Next year’s Newark Festival is likely to be moved from August to June after the town council agreed to hold the event earlier than this year.

Under the plans, the festival would be in the middle of June, and it could possibly co-incide with Newark Carnival and the the town’s beer and wine festival.

Newark Festival this year was on the August Bank Holiday weekend, but the town council made a £15,500 loss after failing to sell the 4,000 tickets required to break even.

A festival report, discussed by the town council’s environment and leisure committee, said: “It was agreed that August Bank Holiday was probably not an ideal time to hold such an event due to the competition from other music festivals such as Leeds and Reading, as well as the fact that it is a popular time for family holidays.

“The staging of the event in 2012 meant that it was in competition with many other events that took place over the summer period, for example the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, Olympic Games, European Football Championships, and the Paralympics.”

The council also intends to invite delegations from Newark’s twin towns — Emmendingen in Germany, Sandomierz in Poland, and St Cyr-sur-Loire in France — as 2013 marks the 30th anniversary of the twinning agreement with Emmendingen, and the 25th anniversary with St Cyr-sur-Loire.

The main events will again be at the Riverside Park.