ABERGAVENNY FOOD FESTIVAL 2007

Distinctively different event highlights importance of making market towns prosper

16 April 2007

Festival Director, Martin Orbach, recently participated as a panel member at a one day ‘Retail Distinctiveness Event’, held in Alnwick in the North East (March 29). 

This event was the culmination of twelve months’ research for an ongoing project to assess what makes retail within market towns attractive. The project is being run by One NorthEast – Regional Development Agency, working in conjunction with Miller Research (UK).  The findings will serve to strengthen the retail offer to residents and visitors to towns in the area and bring about sustainable economic benefits.

As a food event organiser and an independent producer (Shepherd’s Ice-Cream), Martin was well-placed to highlight changes that have taken place in the production and consumption of food, from both a commercial and a cultural perspective.  

He discussed the example of the Abergavenny Food Festival as an illustration of the way in which a community-based organisation had successfully created a high-profile event  - drawing on the cultural resources of the locality – to become a key contributor to economic regeneration. Photo shows Martin Orbach addressing the audience (seated at table second from right).

To find out more about the project visit www.distinctiveness.co.uk