The Barnaby Festival has been celebrating the creativity and the community of Macclesfield since 2010. Using the town as its canvas, the festival acts as a platform for our vibrant and artistic communities to come together for 10 days of creativity, cultural happenings, and of course fun! Once labelled the ‘least cultural place in Britain’, the Barnaby Festival has transformed Macc into a cultural hub. This year Barnaby needs your support to make its parade the best ever!
The parade happens in the first Big Weekend of the festival (15 - 17th June) and is the highlight in the calendar. It offers the people of Macc a way to get creative, make imaginative costumes and floats, and come together as a community in carnival style!
This year's theme is Routes/Roots and various sections in the parade will celebrate different aspects of Macc culture, including the Macclesfield Forest, the Silk Road, and the town's radical history of dissent including Luddite rioters and Suffragettes.
What we'll deliver:
- The chance to see the town get dressed up and get creative
- To provide materials and ideas for those that would like to take part in the parade
- To offer support and help to everyone that wants to take part
- The Parade attracts up to 2000 spectators and participants - this year we hope to make it the biggest yet!
Why it's a great idea:
Parading is great fun, it’s a chance to dress up, let your hair down and party.
You don't have to be arty to join in, anyone is welcome to come and have a go at making costumes, floats and carnival accessories and we're here to help you if you need it!
We recycle as many materials are we can for the floats and costumes, not only is this sustainable, but it adds to the comedy if you spot your old lampshade passing by as an embellishment on some new creation!
Barnaby provides a theme for the parade each year and Artspace engages the community to interpret the theme and to take part in the making of the floats and costumes.
Steps to get it done:
- Registration of all participants of the parade
- Parade workshops provided by Artspace for those taking part
- Preparation of the floats and costumes
Rewards!
This year at Barnaby we will be offering amazing rewards in return for your support:
£3: A Barnaby Badge
£5: Remember those beautiful Love Macc love letters from 2016? A beautiful handcrafted Love Letter to Macc card by the artist Jacqui Wood could be yours!
£50 : A 'I helped to paint the town Barnaby' poster
£150 Donation: A limited edition Ralph McGaul print
