Sour taste as food festival called off

But Education, Sport and Culture said that the organisers told them the cancellation was due to a lack of interest from stall holders, and that Taste Guernsey was told of the restriction in February.

‘It has been a long held convention that full seafront closure for events has not taken place immediately before or after Liberation Days,’ said director of sport and culture Natasha Keys.

‘This historical position was designed to ensure due prominence of our national day. We discussed this with the organisers of Taste Guernsey in February and understood that they were happy to put on a reduced event on 6 May that did not require full seafront closure.

‘We were unaware of any concerns or issues until we received an email from the organiser this morning stating it had been cancelled, the primary reason given as being a lack of stall holder interest.

‘We are naturally disappointed by the cancellation as Taste Guernsey is a fantastic event that we were very much looking forward to.

‘We look forward to supporting organisers with further events they have planned during the summer.’

In messages sent to stall holders yesterday morning, Taste Guernsey said it had also had difficulty securing and licensing the Crown Pier for the event.

The weekend was due to see the first of three mini food festivals, with the pier being used on Saturday as well as the following day, when the usual Seafront Sunday would take place.

‘Unfortunately the States of Guernsey policies state that no event is to take place around Liberation Day,’ said the message. ‘We have fought this ruling since we found out but have been unsuccessful in our fight, we are therefore unable to close the seafront this Sunday.

‘We have tried all we can to have this decision overruled but we have not been able to secure the closure.’

‘The decision to cancel an event is never taken lightly,’ said committee member Ross Gledhill in a statement from the organising committee.

‘However, we want all our events to be the best showcase for Guernsey and this weekend would have not achieved this benchmark.’

One trader who was due to have a stall at the event said the last minute cancellation was ‘very embarrassing for Guernsey’.

‘It’s been very badly organised full stop’, said the stall holder, who asked not be named for fear of not getting a pitch in future.

‘The previous organisers were excellent. We would have emails in January stating the dates for the year, and before each event updating us on anything we needed to know.

‘The people who try to run it now have no contact at all. If you email them you don’t get a reply. Very bad indeed.’

The trader believed it would have cost all stall holders a considerable amount of money. ‘The food does not just magically appear there is a lot of preparation going into it. Many have cancelled other jobs, keeping the space free for the event, which is a loss again.

‘It’s going downhill very fast and it really is very embarrassing for Guernsey.’

Another stall holder said: ‘I understand they have had many problems and feel for them as I think they have tried their best but still believe there are a lot of disappointed traders who rely on these events as they are few and far between and also there are restrictions on where and when you can trade.

‘It does seem late in the day to cancel and whilst my goods aren’t perishable, I had taken into account when buying my stock this event and how much I thought I might sell,’ they said.

Some of this trader’s friends had planned to open their food stalls over both days.

The trader added that they still intended to have their stall at the next event.

The Taste Guernsey Food Festivals and the Taste Seafront Sundays receive a share of about £165,000 allocated by Economic Development from its events group, with about £57,000 split between the Arts and Sports Commissions and the remainder going to Taste Guernsey and Floral Guernsey.

An ED spokesperson said the committee was disappointed at the news of the cancellation.

‘Taste Guernsey assures us that the two mini food festival events scheduled for later on this year will be extended, and we are confident that they will provide a greater display of Guernsey’s local food and produce offering for residents and visitors to enjoy later on this season,’ said the spokesperson.

‘Our marketing and tourism team will continue to work with Taste Guernsey to help promote the mini food festival offering to returning and potential visitors to the island.’