As usual there will be much more than music to keep you entertained this year at Summer Sundae Weekender.
THE VILLAGE provides a great selection of food and craft stalls, along with the ever popular ORANGE TREE REAL ALE & COCKTAIL BARS, plus the MUSICIAN STAGE & EFESTIVALS COMEDY TENT to keep you entertained throughout the weekend.
Plus, after the success of our beach theme last year, for 2011 Summer Sundae Weekender will be taking a trip back in time and bringing some Victoriana to Victoria Park! To this end, this year’s festival will see the introduction of an entirely new area...CURIOSITY CORNER.
Nestled in between THE GARDEN and THE VILLAGE by the Main Entrance to the site, CURIOSITY CORNER will provide much to excite and amuse. Stroll up to its Victorian Bandstand Stage to enjoy ensemble performances from one of Leicester’s oldest brass bands Foresters Brass 2000, Harp for Hangovers to sooth you on the Sunday, storytelling from Young Storyteller of the Year Rachel Rose Reid, plus poetry & theatre throughout the weekend. On Saturday The Bandstand will also host a talk from the UK’s only professional Penny Farthing rider and cycling historian Roger Lovell who’ll be bringing his collection of vintage cycles to the event.
And our journey back into Leicester’s history doesn’t stop there. Our research into the city’s Victorian heritage has brought to our attention the weird and wonderful world of Francis ‘Tanky’ Smith, Leicester’s first private detective, creator of its well known London Road landmark ‘Top Hat Terrace’, and possibly the inspiration behind Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes...
Enter the idiosyncratic world of this Victorian extrovert. Gaze at a pedal powered Top Hat Terrace installation spinning in the trees from Electric Pedals; make sure you keep an eye on an Evolving Sand Sculpture of Tanky himself by World Champion and Leicester local Nicola Wood; get into character in your own vintage disguise at the Vintage Fair, and don’t miss Sunday’s talk by local historian, author and Tanky expert John Harrison.
The Victorian theme and the Tanky influence will not stop here. Head down to THE GARDEN for the usual range of quieter entertainment and visual delights, and enter the unimaginable world of the From Dusk 2 Dawn Mad Hatters Imaginarium where you can create your very own top hat (competition for the best hat judged each day at dusk), sit down to some ‘high tea’ at the Mashed Tea Tent, and soak up a number of other side shows and interactive rarities.
THE KIDZONE, curated this year by The Spark Children’s Arts Festival, will allow our younger audience to create disguises, play Victorian Games, embark on Treasure Hunts, watch our ever popular old fashioned Punch and Judy show, and much much more. Also, don’t miss the Victorian Children’s Parade at 6.30pm on Sunday.
Your adult spirit of adventure will further be satisfied by our QR Digital Art Trail around the site, curated by the clever people at Cuttlefish, and this year our MAIN STAGE will also become a master of disguise, evolving through the seasons of a Victorian Park from Winter to Summer!
Further to this, we are delighted to announce the return this year of the ORANGE TREE BARS. This time around the Orange Tree will be back bigger and better than ever, with a bar in both The Village and the Main Arena, which continue our vintage theme through their trademark retro styling. Enjoy a beer vintage picnic style, complete with rugs and bunting, or sip a cocktail in their chilled out bohemian lounge, as they bring the fun and friendly vibe of their local bars back to our 2011 festival.
Published on 25 April 2011 by Wayne Feltham
