It’s That Time of Year Again. Blossom and leaves appearing on the trees, longer days, milder temperatures; it’s spring at last, and the Flowerpot Team is getting increasingly twitchy.
Flowerpot Anxietatem is a seasonal condition we suffer from at this time of the year as we begin thinking about new characters and displays we could create for this year’s Settle Flowerpot Festival.
Thankfully it’s not too serious, and we usually recover. You’d think that we would be used to all this by now as we approach our 11th Festival, but we are as fascinated to know what we will eventually create, as Settle residents and festival visitors are to see the finished displays. The weirder and more whimsical the better. Last year we introduced the likes of Eeyore, a tightrope-walking clown, and Jeremy Fisher the frog, as well as a suitably serious undertaker and at the war memorial, a soldier, a sailor, and an airman. This year we need to dream up some more magic.
The place where the magic happens – the Potting Shed at Watershed Mill – has been revived from its winter hibernation, tidied up, scrubbed, and hoovered out, and generally made ready for some serious creativity, because although July seems ages ahead, we need to get cracking now!
Way back in 2014, at its inception, the whole idea of the Festival was to help the Settle economy by bringing more visitors to our lovely town during the summer. There were of course, a couple of scarecrow festivals in the Dales, so we didn’t feel we needed another one, and anyway, it was obvious that scarecrows wouldn’t withstand the weather outside for six to eight weeks. But perhaps, just perhaps, flowerpots would….
From just a few displays in those early years, and with the continued support and creativity of local community groups, schools, residents and businesses, we have grown each year. Social media has been a real boost to numbers, as an inexpensive way to publicise the Festival and data from that activity tells us that we have regular visitors travelling from all parts of the UK. Further boosting this growth is a welcome and increasing interest from the media. Apart from regularly featuring in newspapers and magazines locally and nationally, we have also appeared on Channel 5’s Susan Calman’s Grand Day Out, BBC Look North, and even with Naga and Charlie on BBC Breakfast!
In 2023, we estimated that we had more than 300 displays around Settle and Giggleswick, attracting circa 15,000 visitors. That’s worth repeating: 15,000 visitors! All these visitors boost the local economy through car parking, using our cafes and pubs, shopping in our stores and so on.
A key advantage of attracting so many visitors to the Festival comes through the sale of our Flowerpot Trail Quizzes. The income from these, plus our programme of children’s workshops together with some donations, is our lifeblood. And as a not-for-profit Community Interest Company (CIC), operated entirely by volunteers, we are committed to donating any end-of-year surplus to local community organisations, and this year we were delighted to be able to donate £1,150 to Settle’s fantastic Victoria Hall.
The 2023 Festival finished – quite noisily, thanks to the big samba band – with a Family Fun Day at Watershed Mill, where we were joined by lots of local organisations and charities. Amongst other things you could smash some plates, design a badge, take aim at a coconut, and even splat a rat, all to raise money for good causes. The weather was incredibly kind to us on the day, and the event is now a permanent fixture for Settle at the end of our Festival.
So, the Settle Flowerpot Festival is established in the calendar as a successful annual Dales event. Once again, we are out to improve and innovate. And make no mistake, our team has some great ideas, lots of passion and skills, and we are definitely up to the challenge, but it would be great to welcome more new members to the team who could help us to drive the Festival and ensure it continues well into the future.
All you need is some imagination, a love of colour, a sense of humour and fun, an appetite for biscuits and cake, and most of all the desire to “Make People Smile”.
We’ll provide the tools, the paint, and the skills training at the Potting Shed. As for the time you can afford to spend with us, that’s entirely up to you. None of us are full-timers, although as you can imagine, there are a couple of full-on weeks at the start and finish of each festival! But the payback for the work we put in, is in the positivity and support from everyone in Settle, the popularity we observe from visitors, the smiles we see on everyone’s faces of all ages, and the satisfaction of a job well done. In the face of a changing world, we can all do with a few happy distractions, so please get in touch if you’d like to join the team.
And Finally… we are more than willing to take on commissions from residents, organisations, and businesses, for flowerpot creations that will be displayed throughout the Festival. The fee will depend on the complexity of the piece, but will start from £50.
As my grannie used to say, “don’t put off to tomorrow, what you can do today!”
Our contact details are: Steve on 07970 001792, email steve@visitsettle.co.uk, or Richard on 07940 277405, or you can send us a direct message from the Settle Flowerpot Festival Facebook page.
Richard Handscombe
