Guernsey’s longest-running music and art festival will be showcasing more than 70 local acts on Sunday.
All proceeds will go to Safer, Free Tibet and Burma Campaign UK.
Volunteers from the VEF Collective are busy assembling stages and making decorations.
Collective member Yannic Bearder said work began with a few volunteers pitching tents: ‘Everyone pitches in. We have 10 to 20 volunteers from the collective here today. There are maybe about 100 to 200 people involved in total, including everyone on the day like stallholders.
‘Our tents should have canvas on them, but we couldn’t put it up because of the wind. So that’s set us back a bit but shouldn’t be a problem.’
Creative efforts have also commenced.
‘Artists that make something which fits in usually get involved. We’ll be painting boards and bits to put up, and are still looking for paint if anybody has any kicking about.’
Online tickets sales are closed, and ticket sales have gone exceptionally well this year.
‘More advance tickets have sold this year than at least the past 10 years or maybe ever. Tickets are half the usual price, since it is for one day this year, so people are probably happy to throw a tenner at it. Plus festivals like Reading and Leeds aren’t happening.’
HS2 have reportedly run out of tickets.
Vinyl Vaughan, St James and Yakwax have almost run out.
‘So it’s just Atan [the south-east Asian takeaway] and on the door now. We’ve had at least 1,500 pre-sale tickets go, so it’s looking like we might be near capacity. Usually most tickets sell at the last minute.’
There is no official capacity.
‘We’ve had about 3,000 in the past, which is probably the limit.’
Only certain vehicles are permitted on the grounds.
‘There are strict rules in place this year from [Culture &] Heritage, so we are parking vehicles in the bottom car park and bringing it up the hill on little trailers. It really helps though, otherwise you can get stuck in the castle, with nothing you can do, when you have to pick someone up from the airport.’
Weather worries are there, but Sunday is looking good.
‘We don’t like to look [at forecasts], but Sunday is supposed to be sunny all day. We have some ponchos left over from 2018 if it does rain.’
This year the event will be live-streamed for those who usually travel over to attend.
‘Gareth Pennington usually does our lasers and will be sorting out a live-stream.’
Rent-O-Clean and Nessi Gomes have had to pull out, with Kings and Fly Casual taking over respectively.
Advance tickets are £10 or £15 on the gate. Under-12s go free but accompanied by an adult.
Police will take a zero-tolerance approach to drinking in an alcohol-free zone that will operate from midday on Sunday while the Vale Earth Fair takes place.The zone will be operated in The Bridge, North Side and Castle Road as well as some lanes and piers in the area until 2am on Monday.‘It’s a zero tolerance approach to reduce the likelihood of alcohol-induced anti-social behaviour, so don’t think you can talk us into letting you keep it [alcohol],’ a spokesman said.
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