NEW CHESTER FESTIVAL INSPIRES THE CITY TO GET ACTIVE #Events
Victoria Hayes
6th June 2023
A new event is coming to Chester this June with the sole aim of encouraging Chester residents to ditch their cars and walk, cycle or wheel for everyday life. The Active Travel Festival (ATFest) is a free to the public event taking place in Castle Square, lower car park in Chester City Centre on 18th June 2023.
This unique event will be a fun filled, family-oriented day of activities to inspire local residents of all ages and abilities to make cleaner, greener, healthier and sustainable transport choices daily.
The event will feature Stunt Bike Shows, adaptable and kids bikes, e-bikes courtesy of The Bike Factory Chester, e-scooters from Ginger Scooters, walking tours, Dr Bike Repair shop, and much more. Entertainment will also come from local radio station Dee 106.3.
ATFest organiser Stephen Perry said, “The creation of ATFest has been a massive community effort, with support from Cheshire West and Chester Council, Chester Bid, the University of Chester, Chester Resident’s Association, StoryHouse and Bikmo, to name just a few. The festival was crowdfunded, and I think that shows how engaged the community is with the message that we need to promote Active Travel in Chester and put it front and centre in our local transport strategy”.
AtFest was successfully crowd funded via the SpaceHive platform and supported by a plethora of local businesses. Taste Cheshire, organisers of the Chester Food and Drink Festival, are working with ATFest to deliver the event, CEO Briony Wilson said, “This event has been inspiring to so many already and it hasn’t even happened yet! With support from many local businesses and interest groups, it’s clear that the city is looking forward to a wonderful day of activity and Fun. We are also looking forward to welcoming local dignitaries to the event such as Chester MP, Samantha Dixon, Council leader Louise Gittins and Lord Mayor of Chester, Sheila Little”.
The Active Travel Festival has also been in touch with all the primary schools in the region to help connect them with the message of getting active. The festival includes a school’s poster competition, and the entries will be on display at the Riverside Innovation Centre. University of Chester on the day.
ATFest is a free event taking place on Father’s Day from 11am – 4pm and for more information about the event and the activities connected with it go to atfest.uk