Burnham-On-Sea’s first Flag Festival was launched on Friday evening (July 30th) when dozens of unique flags illustrating life in Burnham-On-Sea were officially unveiled across the town centre.
Aimed at making Burnham more colourful and vibrant at the height of the summer season, the festival runs until Monday 5th September.
Burnham-On-Sea artist Juliet Farnese has been working with four local schools in Burnham and Highbridge to create the artwork for the 31 flags, which feature many local groups and activities.
Burnham’s Town Centre Manager Bev Milner Simonds, who is overseeing the project, told Burnham-On-Sea.com: “We are delighted to be flying 31 new flags during the festival, turning the streets into an open-air art gallery.”
“The artistic team have worked with four local schools – Churchfield, St Joseph’s, Burnham Infants and St Andrew’s – to develop images that describe what Burnham-On-Sea means to them.”
“We have taken these and created 27 flags with images of Burnham-On-Sea life and 4 that showcase the drawings from the children.”
“The process of making the flags encouraged art making, learning new skills, sharing, enjoyment, and social exchange. This first year has been successful, and if it is repeated I would like to see it involving a wider cross section of the community at workshops to develop more flags.”
The team has also developed a flag finder trail around Burnham-On-Sea, with leaflets giving more information available from BiARS, the Post Office, Hurleys Newsagents, the Toycupboard, the Library, banks and many cafes and hairdressers.
Juliet added: “It has been a pleasure and a privilege to work with the excellent schools and the very wonderful, imaginative children of Burnham-On-Sea & Highbridge. We are lucky to have such amazing young children in our town, and I feel very proud of them.”
“It’s been a lovely job to do and only possible with the expert help of my colleagues, Helen McGinty, Mike Price and Ignite Somerset.”
The event, which is being supported by Burnham Chamber of Trade, is being funded by funding from the funds to help promote the town centre and offset the development of Burnham’s Tesco store. The Chamber is also running a shops treasure hunt, which is proving successful and runs until August 7th.
Burnham and Highbridge’s Deputy Mayor Cllr Paul Young, who attended Friday evening’s launch function, said: “I am fully supportive of this new festival – it’s great to see something like this taking place in Burnham.”
