A festival cancelled due to increasing costs will run again in 2024 after receiving a grant from the council.
The decision to reinstate Lowedges Community Festival was announced in a Local Area Committee meeting for Sheffield South and will be led by members of the local community working with a new council committee and event sponsors.
Full details of the event will be released early next year when the foundations have been laid out by the event organisers.
The festival first took place in 2008 at Greenhill Park in Lowedges and at first was made up of a few rides and an ice cream van, but in following years expanded to include stalls and what grew to be Sheffield’s largest classic car and bike show.
This expansion gave local residents a community backed day out for families featuring businesses from across Sheffield for something for everyone to choose from.
However, with rising footfall of up to 10,000 people came increased costs for permits to allow the festival to run, so the festival’s treasurer Stephen Rich turned to Louise Haigh MP for Sheffield Heeley for help.
Mr Rich said: “She and her team said there’s no reason why we cannot take the event over into the council as it’s Sheffield’s biggest free event, but alas failure.
“The Liberal Democrat team came to the rescue via a small fun day which was top class this august.
“I continued with plan B which I have been working on for a full year, but I needed £5,000 to rescue the event to ensure it was sustainable.”
Mr Rich says that the £5,000 allocated by the council will not only allow the event to run but to nearly double in size.
He added that the festival has secured multiple sponsors which will ensure that the event can go ahead and be a day for the community to remember.
Updates on the festival can be found on the event’s Facebook page here: Facebook
