Weston beach festivals planned for Bristol 2018 World Cup success
If selected as a prospective host city by the England 2018 team next month – and if the England bid wins the race to host the tournament – Bristol plans to share its celebrations during the tournament with Weston-super-Mare, staging a month-long fan fest on the front in the mould of the annual T4 on the Beach' music bonanza.
North Somerset Council has confirmed its agreement to the proposal, which is now to be included in Bristol's bid book – and could pave the way for more such sites and fan fests throughout the region.
The Bristol bid team is eager to stress the city's credentials as the gateway to the West and involve as many of the region's five million residents as possible in the festivities.
Plans for Weston beach are being drawn up by Richmond Event Management, a Bristol-based company which runs everything from the Tall Ships Race in Liverpool to the Bristol Half-Marathon and the Harbour Festival.
They plan to better the T4 event, which sees more than 30,000 revellers take to the sands each summer.
Having a stage in place for the duration of the tournament though will provide further challenges, not least ensuring events are not tide-dependent.
The site though is billed as the perfect complement to the rolling green hills of Ashton Court and the city centre venue of Eastville Park, where fan fests are also proposed to be sited.
Councillor Felicity Baker, North Somerset Council's executive member for tourism, told the Evening Post: "We are happy to support Bristol's bid by agreeing that Weston can be included in the bid as a fan fest site.
"This would be for the 31 days of the 2018 competition and would host a range of activities and matches would be shown there on giant TV screens."
No specific site has been decided upon at this stage but Richmond Event Management are busy working up drawings to show how it will look to wow the suits in charge of the bid, based at Wembley.
Stephen Wray, Partnerships director for Bristol City Council and member of the Bristol bid team told the Post: "We would like to get a range of sites throughout the South West. It is important that we get the bid and stage games and fan fests here otherwise people are going to be marginalised.
"It's a very exciting prospect picturing a festival on the beach at Weston. It is a beautiful location and adds even more diversity to what we are offering as part of Bristol's bid."
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