Farnham Carnival
Yesterday, the forecast was cool, heavy rain. It did not rain, it was hot, but it did rain today.
I had intended to arrive at the Farnham Carnival early afternoon, but midday it started to rain, only light, then two violent thunderstorms hit, very heavy rain, and with the rain, the temperature dropped.
I arrived late afternoon, not a lot of people, all the stalls were there.
I thought Gostrey Meadow would be muddy, surprisingly not.
Curries from Home
My friends from the garden party Curries from Home were there, so I treated myself to chickpea curry, plus an onion bhaji.
Last week, I had suggested they get a stall at Staycation Live in Godalming, contact Godalming Town Hall. I do not know when it will be, but I suggested possibly last weekend in July or first weekend in August.
Today, I suggested Godalming Food Festival, Sat 5 July ie next weekend, contact Godalming Town Hall, or Cafe Mila.
I also suggested they have a stall during the summer at Guildford farmers market, first Tuesday of the month, to contact Sue at Guildford Council.
Curries from Home, were one of several local food producers who had a stall. Also the local butcher from Downing Street had a barbecue (a hog roast would have been even better), Italian and Thai.
The beer tent had the usual rubbish from Big Business chemical plants. No excuse for this, a community event should be inviting local breweries to sell their beer.
No polystyrene burger boxes floating down the river as last year. Indeed, no stainless steel burger vans. There was though a tacky donut van and a ice cream van and a franchise coffee van. Again no excuse. Invite Dylan to do the ice cream and Hobo Co for the coffee.
Unbelievable, someone had parked a van across the entrance from Gostrey Meadow leading into Downing Street, on the pavement, on double yellow lines, on a blind corner. Yes, they had a flat tire, but still no excuse.
Music on the big stage was pretty awful. A duo on guitar and vocals, a rock group with far more noise than talent, but luckily last act, The Miller Family were great.
carnival procession
I had not intended to stay for the carnival procession, but as I was there, I did. Please can we not have the guy commentating, and please, not a long advertising spiel for Vale Furnishing.
Downing Street free of traffic
Wandering through the town after the procession was great to find the town centre car free. I always thought Downing Street was narrow but free of cars it was quite wide. This is how Farnham could be car free. Jeremy Hunt has proposed this. It should have been done decades ago.
No buses. They must have been avoiding the town centre. I walked back through Gostrey Meadow to Farnham Station and caught the train.
The Miller Family
As I walked back through Gostrey Meadow, it was packed. The Miller Family were were playing on the main stage, and they were great. A pity not bands of this calibre playing through the afternoon.
Farnham Carnival is an annual event on the last Saturday in June.
Today, was Army Day in Aldershot. The event was washed out, no stalls, no people, no nothing. Carnival goers in Farnham are obviously made of sterner stuff than the British Army.
One hundred years ago today, the shot was fired that started World War One.
- Tuesday 1 July 2014 — Guildford farmers market
- Saturday 5 July 2014 — Godalming Food Festival
- Sunday 6 July 2014 — Picnic in the Park, Gostrey Meadow, food, music
- last Saturday July 2014 (?) — Staycation Live, Godalming
Tags: Curries from Home, Farnham, Farnham Carnival, The Miller Family
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