Whitehaven Festival 2011
Whitehaven Festival 2011 Festival Ships Food JetSki Airshow Fashion Music Night
Whitehaven Festival 2011 despite less than perfect weather still brought in huge crowds to the harbour and was a great success.
The crowds certainly thronged around the numerous stalls both from the large continental market and the Made in Cumbria village running the length of the Lime Tongue.
As well as the TV chefs, on Saturday afternoon Whitehaven Festival also played host to one of TV's biggest stars Louie Walsh boy band impressario and X-factor judge.
Another TV star performing for the second year running was Titan the robot recently seen on the last series of Big Brother.
Also on the Sugar Tongue was a suberb display of birds of prey with the handlers keen to answer questions and allow people to get really close to these magnificent creatures.
At the town end of the Bulwark Quay a Chinook helicopter was available for people to look inside were videos were playing showing the views from different windows of the helicopter on exercise.
Several street theatre performers kept the crowds entertained including these Pirates of Menzpants.
There was a strong military presence at the festival with several displays and stalls from the three forces.
The royal marines had a climbing tower and were very good at encouraging the young kids to get to the top.
Keeping the older members of the crowd fit were the zumba group on the CFM stage with their energetic dance routines in which the audience were encouraged to take part.
Just a few yards away by the Hub these spheres in a large pool alowed the kids to burn off some calories whilst the parents got a few minutes rest.
Although there was no sign of the Doctor his TARDIS materialised on the Sugar Tongue.
Very dark clouds threatened a deluge through most of the weekend but apart from the Friday morning the rain was rarely more than spitting and there was occasional periods of sunshine. The fact that the festival team had arranged such a wide variety of entertainment paid off as there was always something to do or watch. The only disappointments were the cancellation of the Hunter jet and the huge firework display on Saturday night - this was due to strong onshore winds which were measured above the level for health and safety - so there was no possiblity for it to go ahaead. However, the Friday night fireworks were quite spectacular, all the other aircraft performed and the three big concerts were a great success.
Return to Western Lakeland Events
Whitehaven Festival official website www.thefestival.org.uk
Taylors Funfair - www.fun-fairs.com
Royal Navy - www.royalnavy.mod.uk
The Royal Airforce - www.raf.mod.uk
Zumba Cumbria - www.zumbacumbria.com
Titan the Robot - www.titantherobot.com
Bread and Butter - www.breadandbuttertheatrecompany.co.uk
© WAWL 2011