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Street festival offers family fun...

Street festival offers family fun

Shoppers in Bury St Edmunds will find a day of free entertainment on Saturday June 15 as independent businesses in St Johns Street host a festival of family fun. The St Johns Street Festival builds on the success of the very popular St Johns Street Fairs of previous years.

The road will be closed to regular traffic all day to allow the street to become a showcase for food, drink, music and entertainment including vintage vehicles, rickshaws, stilt walkers and hula-hooping. The local radio station RWSfm will be broadcasting live from the event throughout the day.

Businesses from St Johns Street, which is known for its vibrant mix of independent shops, have worked together to put on the event and raise awareness of all that they have to offer. Rosie Hunter of Vinyl Hunter record shop and café at 56 St Johns Street is one of the event’s organisers. She commented: “As well as the variety of music, food, drink and entertainment throughout the day, many of the shops are holding their own unique events with giveaways, special Festival offers and demonstrations.

“We’re also delighted to be joined by John Saunders who is a member of the Bury Society and a tour guide in the town. He will be giving a fascinating tour of this important street and explaining how it was saved from demolition by the founding of the Bury Society.”

The tours will take place at 10am and 11am from outside the Salvation Army.

Chief Executive of the town’s Business Improvement District, Mark Cordell said: “St Johns Street is a jewel in the Our Bury St Edmunds crown and we work closely with our members there to support them with events such as Independents’ Week in July among others. But the commitment that all the businesses there put in to making the St Johns Street Festival happen is a demonstration of the true community spirit that makes this part of the town centre a great place to visit and shop.”

The St Johns Street Festival is making a return after five years thanks to funding from local councillors Julia Wakelam and Kevin Hind. It runs from 10am until 5pm.