Lancashire Encounter Festival September 2016

Apr, 19 2016

~We can all experience some form of encounter in our lives. It may be the first encounter you had with your other half. It could be the initial encounter with your baby or even more surreally it could be the close encounter of the third kind.

Granted encounters happen to all whether it be in a romantic sense or in a science fiction level. How about though an encounter that had a cultural twist. One that embraced performance, stalls, pop-up shops, musicians, thespians and activities.

Thanks to Preston City Council and a dream that was realized at it’s pilot launch last September ( 2015), ’Lancashire Encounter’ festival will promise all of the above and a whole lot more.

 Scheduled to take place between this September 23rd- 25th 2016 and biennially from then on, with  an excess of £70,000 from the Arts Council and, in total £200,000  to help  finance this ‘must see’ fun and frivolity.

Diversity across the county is the main theme and will open with a mass - participation performance.

Tim Joel, Preston City  Council’s events manager had the following to say on the collaborative force that will bring people together and how the city will look amass with a busy tour de force,

“We will be working with communities across Lancashire and doing some target work, particularly with hard-to-reach communities.” Surrounding streets will be populated with street theatre, buskers, pop-up markets and activity areas”.

The pop up markets will take place across Winckley Square, the train station, the Fishergate shopping centre and the markets.

Last year Prestonians felt the thrill of the red canopies which will be returning this year and will be linked in as part of a light extravaganza, as Tim explains,

“We are looking at a procession of light as a finale for the festival, building on the sense of torchlight in the Guild. We’ll be looking at inviting groups to come and make and participate in that procession, and we are looking to appoint a procession producer.”
This year also sees the 200th anniversary of gas light in which Preston was crowned the first town outside of London to have gas. This will be celebrated as the procession will weave it’s way into Preston from Moor Park.

To conclude, Lorraine Norris, chief executive of Preston Council expresses these words of joy in response to the  input from the Arts Council and what it means overall for the September spectacular,

“We are delighted with the funding from the Arts Council which is a wonderful endorsement for Lancashire Encounter and for Preston. It means we together with our partners can put on an even bigger and better festival programme which offers something for everyone.”