This is an overview of the grant awarded for the 2024 Morton Feastival to help organiser’s efforts to revitalise the feastival for the local community to come together and enjoy.
What is Morton Feastival?
The 2024 Morton Feastival was set up by a community volunteer team from the Morton Village Hall. The group wanted to uphold the tradition of having a feast. Records showed that in 1875 and years thereafter, there was an annual Morton Feast with festivities often taking place on July 12th or the first Sunday after.
Over the years, the event had changed to include a whole host of activities including:
- Slow bike ride
- Pram racing
- Trotting ponies
- Cricket matches
- Pancake races
- Tug of war
- Talent shows
- River side runs
- BBQs
- Best kept garden award
- Village hall dances
- Fancy dress
- Miss Morton competition
This historical event was important for the village of Morton but in recent years had faced a decline and lack of volunteers. The history of the Morton Feast encouraged the team to gather together to raise funds for the event, doing so through band nights, afternoon teas, children’s parties and tabletop sales.
2024 Morton Feastival Grant Application
The organisers of the 2024 Morton Feastival wanted to develop their plans and bring back an event that was once so key to the village. For their 2024 event, they wanted to include live entertainment, street food vendors, children’s games and more.
Consequently, they started looking for funding and submitted an application for £730 to Gainsborough Town Council. The funding requested would be used to help cover the cost of the 6 metre by 15 metre marquee, providing shelter and seating for people who attended the event.
The grant was awarded by the Property & Services Committee on Tuesday 12th March 2024.
Day of the Event
The 2024 Morton Feastival was a free entry event took place on Saturday 13th July 2024 on the Community Field, Crooked Billet Street, running from 2pm to 10pm. The organisers worked hard to try and keep any potential costs for activities to nill or as affordable as possible.
Of the event Morton Feastival said: “Once again, we’d just like to thank the Town Council for being supportive for our very first Morton Feastival in a number of years – and we were just blown away in how successful it was and how people came out to join in the fun.”
Funding provided by the Town Council was used for the marquee that housed the Morton ladies’ volunteer team who worked throughout the afternoon into the evening providing tea, coffee, cakes and hot dogs.
The Morton Feastival team’s drive was to help provide a day of fun, attractions and music for all the family, helping to improve wellbeing and reduce isolation while also giving local up-and-coming businesses an opportunity to get involved.
The Feastival included 22 community stalls, events and activities in addition to 10 different stage events, with over 1200 individuals in the 8 hour spell. Activities included Kixx sports games, Cookstars, face painting, a dog show and more taking place throughout the day – further details can be found here:
Morton Feastival – Gainsborough Town Council
Learn more about our Community Grants
If you are interested in finding out more about our community grants, you can find more details here:
https://gainsborough-tc.gov.uk/council-business/community-grants/