The team behind the Burnham-On-Sea Food & Drink Festival received the news on Sunday that they are runners-up in the Daily Telegraph and Love British Food ‘Bring Home the Harvest’ competition for a second year.
They have been recognised for their community engagement in a ‘Harvest Fever’ themed series of events that took place at the end of September.
The team worked hard with Somerset communities to bring people of all ages and walks of life together to celebrate the harvest festival.
The judging panel, led by Elizabeth Truss (Secretary of State for the Environment, Food & Rural Affairs) said that they were particularly impressed with how the team had gone out of their way to get so many different parts of the community involved.
“This was a dynamic, engaging series of events and I really liked the use of social media in this campaign,” said the panel.
Chris Collins, Blue Peter Gardener, said the events were “very well produced and [were] extremely strong on the business sustainability side.”
Founder and organiser of British Food Fortnight, Alexia Robinson added: “All of the Judges were impressed with the #HarvestFever Somerset entry. It was pleasing to see how the organisers were specifically spreading word of the region’s food heritage to new audiences, and were thinking outside the box in terms of both designing and marketing their events. We also liked the focus on community and sustainability and look forward to seeing how these initiatives develop in the future. Very well done!”
Organiser Sarah Milner Simonds said: “We wanted to do something in addition to the festival to focus on the harvest festival celebration at the end of September and Love British Food fortnight.”
“Bringing cooking demos to the local farmer’s market, food stalls into the schoolyard and adding a local food element to a music event were all small steps to bring the harvest alive in unusual places or in unusual ways. We really enjoyed running the events and are looking forward to bringing home the harvest again in 2015.”
