This week I attended an event at Chester Racecourse designed to showcase and celebrate all the events happening in the city over the next few months. The information session gathering session bought together many of the city’s key players in hospitality and tourism and was hosted by the hard working Izzy Grey of We Love Good Times.

• First up Sam Martin, Marketing Manager at Chester Racecourse described a successful 2023 for the venue with 200,000 racegoers, an 11% increase on 2022. The Racecourse also supported 176 charities raising £24,000 from bucket collections alone. Sam described how the Race company support the post races clean up with their own cleaning team that work around the course’s boundaries. He noted that some of the Race dates have changed this year (fixture list on Races website) and that adding themed events and entertainment to race days will be a focus this year. Finally he highlighted the Racecourse’s community role hosting events such as the Food and Drink Festival, the marathon and Race for Life etc.
• Stephen Perry spoke about The Active Travel Fest, an event which debuted last Summer. 1000 people attended and the event will return in June on a smaller scale to Town Hall square. The festival will be part of Chester Green Weekend ( 14-16 June) with a proposed programme of events including school and public engagement in the months leading up to it. Helen Tandy of Eco communities spoke about the Green Expo which will form part of the weekend. The expo is a series of events to showcase and raise awareness of green issues and opportunities, including the long term goal of creating a visitor centre in the disused Hydro electric power station. The organisers hope to grow this event which takes place on Castle Drive and includes exhibition stalls and mini lectures. A Paddle Board festival is also planned for the Groves.
• Briony and Tori from Taste Cheshire spoke about the long running Food and Drink Festival now in its 24th year. With the headlining chefs recently announced ,(https://thechesterblog.com/2024/02/06/taste-cheshire-announce-line-up-for-2024-festival/ ) the organisers have compensated for the earlier Easter date and weather concerns by housing 60% of the stalls under cover. Last years festival attracted 27,000 visitors.
• Rowan and Rob from BIG Heritage spoke about the offerings at the rebranded and improved Deva Roman Experience and the established Sick to Death. Deva After Dark on the 16-17th Feb is an adult orientated Valentines themed scare experience. The Roman experience was upgraded last year and is now an interactive actor led experience covering everything from Roman baths to Gladiator fights. Later in the year (30 March to 14 April) will be the “Easter Eggsavation” themed event. Meanwhile Sick to Death will host a Summer of Surgery ( 27 July – 6 Sept) looking at the history of famous surgical pioneers.
• Katherine Wilson Professor of Later Medieval European History at Chester University spoke about the brand new event the Chester Festival of Ideas ( 4-7 July) https://festivalofideas.chester.ac.uk/. The festival will include free events centred on a wide range of themes. The Town Hall will be the main base with other venues including Storyhouse and The Grosvenor Museum. Events can also be submitted by members of the public or organisations up until April 1. York have been running their own festival of ideas since 2011 and the Chester organisers hope to grow this event in subsequent years to highlight and amplify the great things going on in Chester.
• Monica from Chester Cathedral spoke about the forthcoming Lux Muralis event ( 21- 24 Feb) a light installation which will transform the historic interiors. She also announced that Peter Waterman would return this summer for the 4th Making Tracks model train installation. A new art installation from Liz West is also on its way this year.
• Warren from Chester Pride spoke about the event, now in its 12th year which always brings a high volume of people to the city. This years event takes place on 17th August with a parade from 1-2pm. In 2023 Pride attracted 12,000 attendees with an estimated £2 million pumped into the local economy. 43% of guests came from outside of Chester. He also spoke of the success of the Rainbow Tea Rooms on Bridge street, and the charity’s Box Project : distributing over 1000 free sanitary and protection products. The 2024 event will see several improvements including an enhanced Youth Pride and an improved VIP area, as well as a (hopefully) soon to announced international headline act.
• Finally Isabelle from the Visitor Information Centre spoke about the wide range of historical walking tours that are available- emphasising that there was more on offer than Roman history including Tudor, Stuart and Edwardian tours and 3 different ghost walks. The 4 latest tours all go up onto the rows offering opportunities for businesses on the rows to showcase themselves.

The session was highly informative and a great networking session with many friends in the audience. Considering that several other key city players were absent- the Zoo, Storyhouse, Chester Market etc ( having spoken at previous events) the myths and moans that “nothing ever happens in Chester” or that “there is nothing to do” can surely be put to bed forever now. In support of this Destination Chester and Izzy have produced a 54 page events listing- a detailed what’s on guide which has been long requested in Chester. The spirit of collaboration is alive and well, considering not just the larger organisations present but the network of charities and grass roots groups all playing their part in giving Chester its personality and character. The mood has shifted and with egos and obstacles pushed aside, we can all play our part in ensuring Chester thrives.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Zy4qvRPj-eGwJ7Kb979NrLy2fw1flQJt/edit

This event was made possible by support from : Chester Racecourse, Marketing Cheshire, Cheshire West & Chester Council, Chester BID, Chester Zoo, ThinK Wine and We Love Good Times.