This year’s Bishop Auckland Food Festival is set to include a feast of free family fun as well as delicious food and drink stalls and cookery demonstrations from celebrity chefs on Saturday April 20 and Sunday April 21.
Saturday will kick-off with The Speakeasies covering popular songs with a surprising twist – think ragtime jazz Lady Gaga and smooth and soulful Guns ‘n’ Roses. Also appearing on Saturday are professional street entertainer and Covent Garden regular Richard Filby, and foot-stomping carnival band Baque de Ogum.
The Speakeasies’ Bishop Auckland-based vocalist, Ruth Stapleton, will return to perform on Sunday, and will be joined by the world’s largest contemporary choir, Rock Choir, and Mad Alice Theatre Company.
Taking to the streets on both days will be festival favourites, the North Tyneside Steel Band, and the hilarious Granny Turismo. They’ll be joined by stilt-walking duo Bell & Bullock, and comedy chefs Hugh Fearn and Lee Whittingstall with their Liver Cottage mobile kitchen garden.
A gentle performance of puppets and shadows for children and families, Pigeon & Pomegranate, will have three showings each day in Bishop Auckland Town Hall’s theatre. Plus there’s free family-friendly craft workshops throughout both days in gazebos and inside Newgate Shopping Centre. There’ll be food and flower-themed gelli printing with Jackie Stonehouse or printmaking with a focus on football matchday food culture with Alastair Flindall in the gazebos. There’ll also be family food-themed arts and crafts sessions from Wilson & Benn and The Wiggly Path Company in the Newgate Shopping Centre.
Cllr Elizabeth Scott, Durham County Council’s cabinet member for economy and partnerships, said: “There are just over three weeks to go until Bishop Auckland Food Festival and alongside the food and drink stalls and the cookery demonstrations, we’ve got a super programme of family entertainment lined up. There’ll be family photo opportunities and laughs aplenty, with free events and activities also taking place in gazebos and in the town hall theatre. We’ve also got a quality live music offer so we have all the ingredients for people to come and make a day, or a weekend, of it. We’re well on with event preparations now and we’ll soon have a confirmed list of traders to share.”
This year’s celebrity chefs are BOSH! duo Henry Firth and Ian Theasby, Matt Tebbutt, Cyrus Todiwala, Meliz Berg, Marcus Bean, and Dan Hunter.
For all the latest Bishop Auckland Food Festival news visit www.bishopaucklandfoodfestival.co.uk
