Macclesfield will be transformed into a floral oasis for the town’s first ever horticultural festival.
The Macclesfield Garden Festival has been organised by award winning garden designer Jon Tilley, who came up with the idea to create beautiful temporary gardens around the town for a weekend in May.
It will include exhibits by RHS Gold medal winning garden designers, artists, sculptors, horticulturalists and floral design artists at Christ Church, as well as town centre displays along Chestergate and Mill Street.
Jon, who won Gold at the RHS Flower Show at Tatton Park in 2011, hopes the festival will delight residents and visitors, as well as encourage a new generation of green fingers.
He said: “I want to involve as many people from Macclesfield as possible. This is something that could really work well in the middle of the town. It will be something to bring the community together and brighten up the town centre. We want to get as many people involved as possible. It will be fantastic to walk down Mill Street and Chestergate and see all these colourful planters.
“The festival is bringing together all of the town’s schools, community groups and businesses, to live up to our mission to celebrate gardens, design, art and nature. We’ve got all the schools doing something and I’d like to hear from gardeners who can get involved.”
Jon, who ran Dragonfly Garden Design for many years until moving into property development, said he hoped the festival would fill a void left by the Barnaby Festival, which will next take place in 2018.
He said: “The festival has been knocking around my brain for some time and when I heard Barnaby became biannual there was a space to do something.”
Professional garden designers Clive Scott and Andy Walker have both been confirmed for the festival, with sculptors Michelle Castles and Olivia Ferrier also taking part. It is also hoped that there will be a ‘Jurassic garden’ created by paleontologist Stu Pond.
Red Willow Brewery are also hoping to run a special ‘garden bar’ for the event.
Community exhibitions planned include a ‘Yarn Tree’ outside the Town Hall, which will be designed and created by Sixth Form students at Kings. And the town’s high schools will create painted designs with recycled materials on the four pillars of the Town Hall, with an award for the best design.
Primary School children are also getting involved and will dress up for a ‘Spring Wassail’, while shops and businesses are invited to take part in a ‘planter competition’.
Jon, who has already secured some sponsorship from the Grosvenor Centre and a number of local businesses, is holding a public meeting tomorrow (Thursday, January 5) for anyone who would like to get involved.
He said: “The whole idea is to bring the community together, so we need as many people as possible to get involved.
“We would like people to get involved with the gardens, but we would also need help with people as marshals, organising some of the events, there’s lots to be done.”
The festival will run from Friday, May 19 to Sunday, May 21.
The meeting will be held at St Michael’s Church at 7pm.
