A festival of locally-made food, drink and little luxuries is coming back to Port Sunlight

A family-friendly festival which brings together locally-created food, drink and little luxuries is returning to Port Sunlight this October.

The Sugar and Spice Festival will feature more than 40 independent businesses, makers and creators from the area, celebrating their uniqueness.

There’ll also be an autumn themed children’s trail, a wellbeing area with yoga and soundbath taster sessions, live performances from the Sing The Musicals Choir, Port Sunlight Ukulele Group and Wirral Poetry Festival, and the launch of a new Port Sunlight Foodie Tour including a historical treat.

This will be the fourth Sugar and Spice Festival after the first, in collaboration with Port Sunlight Village Trust, was held at Easter 2024.

The idea came from Bala Croman, who owns The Chocolate Cellar in New Ferry. Her business was inspired by the bestselling book – and later film – Chocolat which features a similar event.

Bala explains:

“At the end of the book there’s a festival where everyone comes together and they’ve all got something different to contribute. That really touched me.

“I live in Port Sunlight and I thought it would be amazing to have something like that within the village to bring people together and show off their uniqueness.

“I trade at different events myself so I just put it out there to my fellow traders. They were keen and when we held the first one last year I must admit it we were so surprised by the response, most of us had sold out by 1pm.

“Since then I’ve worked with the Port Sunlight Village Trust to hand-pick the traders. We’re looking out all year round to see who would fit in because it’s not just about what they make, it’s about who they are and the character they bring.”

This latest autumn edition of the festival will be held on Saturday October 4, between 11am and 4pm.

Charlene Davies from the Port Sunlight Village Trust says:

“The village used to have quite a lot of events and Bala was really passionate about bringing that community spirit back.

“She wanted to bring lots of independent makers and food and drink vendors together so that’s where the festival was born. Everyone is local and the stalls have food, drink and little luxuries so that includes hot food & drink as well as those you can take home, artisan goods and arts and crafts.

“Alongside the festival we’ll be running a ticketed themed children’s trail which, for the harvest edition, will have a squirrel theme. We’re launching a little squirrel mascot for the village, we’ll have acorn trail markers dotted around the village, and staff will be giving out trail maps with clues to help find the locations. 

“If they find all the hidden acorns there’s a little autumn prize at the end, and they’ll also have the opportunity to name our resident squirrel mascot who has recently been designed by artist Catherine Jackman.”

Charlene says the festival is a chance to welcome people who live in Port Sunlight, as well as visitors from outside the area, and to share the history of the village.

“As part of this festival we’re launching a new Foodie Tour, collaborating with Nettle café who’ve recently opened in the old bank. We’ve gone through collections including publications by Lever Brothers and in those we’ve found the Port Sunlight bun. 

“We’re hoping to recreate that recipe from historical resources, so people can go around, discover more about the history of food in the village and sample the Port Sunlight bun from the early 1900s!”

Find out more about the Sugar and Spice Festival in Port Sunlight here.

Find more great days out on the Wirral here.

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