Saturday, 19 November 2016

2 Portobello Christmas Street Fest 2016




Christmas may still be over a month away – but preparations are well under way for the Portobello Christmas Street Fest on the 1st of December. Last year’s event, sadly, was a complete wash-out thanks to the weather but the 2014 Street Fest saw thousands of people throng the High Street. There are two interlocking events – one for children, the other in which local traders open their doors from 5 until 8 for late night shopping. And there are lots of other activities as well. To find out more, I met the two organisers, June Robertson and Bob Jefferson. I started by asking Bob to tell me more about this year’s event.


 



Bob: This year we're doing a Christmas streets festival as we're calling it. So I think this is the fourth year that we've done this. So it's an opportunity for the shops to stay open for people to do some late night Christmas shopping and also to enjoy some entertainment at the same time. Last year, unfortunately it didn't do too well, but the year before was absolutely wonderful. The year before was kind of too good in a way. It was a lot busier than we'd anticipated and that in itself actually caused some issues. But yeah, last year we had some terrible weather. There wasn't a lot we could do about that and unfortunately last year June wasn't able to put on the fevers shows, so that diminished it a little as well. 


June: My part in this is mostly a street party for the children. We've got lots of entertainment for them. Of course, it includes a visit from Mr and Mrs Claus and it wouldn't be Christmas without "Frozen"! So when they arrive it also wouldn't be right without sending an invitation to My Little Pony so she might arrive, although she does have a problem with on her legs


I normally start working on this in July because it's getting larger every year. I can't afford to fund it myself. So I start in July so that we can get things free. We're getting a Rolls Royce this year so Mr and Mrs Claus are going to ride in style this year!


To listen to the complete podcast, click here

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