You must’ve had your head in the sand if you didn’t know that this year, Celebrate Ventnor Day has been renamed Ventnor Festival (or VFest) and is now being organised by Ventnor Community Projects.
Another change is that this year it happens on a Saturday (22nd) NOT Sunday as many people seem to think.
The action kicks off at noon and runs until 11pm with a whole host of things to keep you entertained. The main music stage will be in the Eastern Esplanade car park and the long awaited line-up can now be revealed.
We don’t have exact times, but the order of appearance runs like this:
• Cosmic Debris — rock
• The Windows — Indie/mellow
• Kommotion — rock and roll
• Coo 6b — quirky folk
• Cooley Bones vs Masters of the Omniverse — Techno hip hop
• Lewis Berry — guitar covers
• Nitrate — rock
• Green Room — Indie Blues
• Heterodox — Heavy metal
• Dick Taylor — blues
• Preheat Dissent — blues
• Guitar group — everyones rock and pop favourites
• Bastila — Indie ska fusion
• + Local DJ Kathy Lockwood
• + performances of African drumming and Christa Correia School of Dance
Headliners Bastila (a favourite of ours), as you will all know have played at IOW Festival and mainland gigs and are at the GuilFest this year — as well as making it through to the finals of the Bestival Bands competition (next Wednesday).
Greenboy (I know how much you love your Golden) will be happy to see that this year The Ventnor Brewery will be hosting a beer tent in the car park, beside many other food stalls, arts and crafts and local organisations.
In the bandstand area will be the activities marquee, with lots to do from noon til 7pm — all free of charge — for the young and the young at heart.
• African drumming workshops x 2
• Circus skills workshops x 2
• Performance by Christa Correia School of Dance
• David Randini the famous childrens magician
• Crazy the Clown
• Ventnor Guitar Club
Nearby will be face painting, a Ventnor library stall + competition, stilt walkers + the new Carnival Truck from the Arts Unit will be there where you can try your hand at mask or head-dress making.
Also in this area, at intervals throughout the afternoon, local dance artist Rosalind Noctor and London dancer Dominique Bulgin will be performing Silk Blanket — a delightful dance sculpture where bodies twist and turn inside silk parachutes. Sounds really beautiful.
Ventnor Festival still needs volunteers for marshalling, if you can spare a couple of hours give Nicky a call on 07989 563485.
