Organiser explains Merefest decision

Merefest was created by Shropshire Wildlife Trust as part of its Heritage Lottery Funded, Meres and Mosses Landscape Partnership.

The plan was to make the event sustainable, able to run without a grant.

But Luke Neal, who led the project for the trust, said not enough people were willing to pay the £3 entrance brought in last year.

"If there is someone out there that would sponsor Merefest, we would gladly run it again, we all had a fantastic time putting on the event, we loved it."

Mr Neal said that the lottery grant included a sum to put on an annual celebration for five years.

"The target for the first year was to attract 800 people, we brought in 1,500," he said. "At its peak we had 5,000 people attending."

He said that, including staff time, Merefest had cost between £40,000 and £50,000 to run.

He added: "Festivals bringing in that number of people can cost up to £500,000 to put on. Last year we brought in a £3 charge to start to make the event sustainable. Because the Cremorne Gardens is a public space we had to let people who said they were walking through the park, not attending Merefest, have access.

"We believe that some 1,000 people used that to come to the festival without paying. That and a combination of bad weather in the morning meant we did not raise the money we had hoped to raise."

Mr Neal said that because of the problem with access the Mere Advisory committee, which oversees the management of the mere, told Shropshire Wildlife Trust it would not be able to close of the gardens in 2018.

He said it was a shame that a minority had spoilt the event's future.

"A huge majority of people supported Merefest. I am disappointed that Ellesmere mere has said it did not bring anything to the town.

"We asked for meetings with the council and the chamber of commerce to look at how we could link Merefest to the town, for instance with a pub trail. There were lots of things we could have done.

"We also offered local businesses half price stalls at the festival. It would have been a perfect way to showcase what they have on offer, a real shop window."

" Our special thanks goes out to all our partners, traders, service providers and sponsors. I think a special mention should go to Fizzgigs - Ellesmere Community Arts Group for adding the magical sparkle that made our souls soar and Shropshire Festivals without whom we would have not been able to manage all the background organsing and stay sane."