The biennial Macclesfield Barnaby Festival got off to a great start last weekend, and David Rutley MP joined hundreds of local residents who had come together to 'paint the town Barnaby' from 15th – 24th June.
The Festival, a celebration of arts and culture inspired by Macclesfield’s rich history and heritage, featured the traditional parade through the town, providing a spectacle of costume, colour and creativity. Many local groups were represented and cheered on by the large crowds, as they demonstrated their own interpretations on the Festival’s theme of ‘Routes and Roots’, inspired by Macclesfield's unique silk heritage at the end of the ancient Silk Road, and its landscape and people.
The fun continued throughout the weekend with free family-friendly events taking place all day on Saturday and Sunday, including: live music; a range of exciting and innovative street theatre; story telling; stalls selling artisan and locally-made produce; and activities ranging from parcour workshops to kaleidoscopic coding. During the weekend evenings, residents enjoyed music from live bands and DJ sets in the dedicated marquee set up outside St Michael’s Churchyard, as well as drinks from the Festival’s very own Barnaby Tap.
The weekend also saw the unveiling of a mesmerising new light installation at the Silk Museum on Park Lane produced by digital light artist Zarah Hussain, who is from Macclesfield. The installation, named ‘Invisible Threads’, which was commissioned by the Barnaby Festival, highlights Macclesfield’s vital position at the western end of the Silk Road, as well the artist’s own father’s work in a local textile factory, and is available to view throughout the Festival period.
On Sunday, HOPE In North East Cheshire, the umbrella group of over thirty-nine Churches of many denominations in Macclesfield and Bollington and the surrounding villages, held a well-attended open-air service in Market Square. The service was an important and timely opportunity to recognise the vital work on behalf of vulnerable people taken forward by so many churches in and around local communities, as well as the all those who volunteer in civil society across the local area.
David said, "It was great to attend another vibrant and successful Barnaby Festival and to see local residents coming together to celebrate our town’s rich heritage and unique sense of community spirit. Barnaby has become an integral part of the Macclesfield calendar and it remains a statement of our town’s creativity and ambition for the future. As ever, I would like to thank the Festival's organisers, who volunteer their time to put on this much-loved community event, and encourage local residents to continue to see for themselves all that the Festival has to offer in the days ahead.”