11/11/2015
Aerosaurus Balloons Ltd, the organisers of Tiverton Balloon and Music Festival (TBMF), have announced that there will be no TBMF in 2016.
Arthur Street, of Aerosaurus, said "After 5 very successful years during which the Festival has entertained tens of thousands of visitors from all over the country & raised over £40,000 for local charities, groups and clubs, following a great deal of thought we have decided not to host a Festival in 2016. There are a variety of reasons, the main one being that we just felt we could not put in the time and resources that the Festival required for its organisation in 2016. We have thoroughly enjoyed working with the staff and pupils of both Tiverton High School and Petroc College and would like to thank them, the balloon teams, traders, caterers, entertainers, sponsors, Tiverton Town Council and Mid Devon Council for their support in making the event possible".
The Festival has become a clear favourite with both residents of Mid Devon and visitors to the area, with the balloons passing over the town from their take off point within the grounds of Tiverton High School fields, as well as the Festival itself, which attracted people from all over the country to the town.
For the past 3 years the Tiverton Co-operative Learning Partnership (TCLP) has organised 'The Two Rivers Festival' (2RivTiv) which takes place in the four days leading up to TBMF. Last year this included over 500 local school children performing an outdoor production of Disney's 'The Lion King Jr'.
The TCLP are keen to ensure that this smaller, more Tiverton based community Festival will continue in 2016. Mandy Slevin, Development Officer for the TCLP, said "2RivTiv are moving their dates to the traditional weekend of the Balloon Festival, therefore dates for the Two Rivers Festival 2016 are Friday 8th - Monday 11th July. This will include another grand performance by our young people, as well as outdoor live music on the Saturday night and an afternoon outdoor visit by the Festival Players performing Shakespeare, all within the grounds of Tiverton High School. We are very excited about our new weekend dates, and full details will be released soon. We even hope to persuade some balloons to visit the site, in order for the custom of the early morning and evening take offs to take place over the town."
For full details of the 2016 2RivTiv schedule, look out on social media and on the Tiverton Co-operative Learning Partnership website www.tclp.org.uk
