Eco-Arcadia review, 2004.
Eco-Arcadia had a fantastic season in 2004. We attended eight events over the summer and had a great time as well as turning lots of people on to BioDiesel. Thanks to Num and Giselle and the rest of the Eco-Arcadia crew: Rob, Derek, Polly, Ana, Nathan, Janey, Savannah, Baggage, Andy and Ali, who all worked so hard to make this season such a success. Thanks also to everyone who came in to the arcade and had so much fun with us.
We began with Strawberry Fair, where we were part of the Green area. A one day, free event, on Cambridge's Midsummer Common, it's been a personal favourite of mine for years. So I was really happy to be starting the season there. Fine weather and a good turnout ensured a successful day for all. A cracking good start to the summer.
Next up was Glastonbury festival. We had a really good pitch next to the Ballroom in the Lost Vagueness field. The crew spent a whole day creating the blue and silver ceiling drape, which is visible in some of the photos in the gallery, on a hand sewing machine. Sadly, this disappeared at the end of the festival. Lost or stolen? It's a mystery.
Anyway, The rain and high winds didn't seem to deter people from coming in and having BioDiesel-powered fun every night until dawn, the arcade turning into a big party zone with people getting down to a variety of tunes from various in-house and guest djs.
One chap came in over the weekend and told me how he'd been so impressed by us in 2003 that he'd been making his own BioDiesel for the last year! This felt like a real achievement for us: Eco-Arcadia is making a real positive difference and people are actually taking the message away with them, as well as having a good time.
After Glastonbury, we went to Guilfest, in Guildford. This took place in a park in the middle of the town and went on over the weekend. After a slow start on Friday, the event fairly picked up and overall, we had a good time. Because of the location of the event, we found ourselves talking to a much broader cross-section of the community than at other events, many of whom had never heard of BioDiesel and were quite rightly appalled by the government's current standpoint on fuel taxing with regard to BioDiesel. Num and Giselle were interviewed for BBC Southern Counties Radio and we got mentioned by Janice Long, on Radio 2. Our only criticism of the event was the lack of recycling facilities and the massive amount of litter just thrown on the ground by the general public, even where bins were provided.
After Guilfest, we had a week off before embarking on a month-long tour. First was the Big Chill. Set in the beautiful grounds of Eastnor Castle, in Herefordshire, we were pitched in the top corner of the festival, above the kids' area. Any concerns we may have had about being a bit out of the way were quickly dispelled as word of us spread across site and people began to seek us out. On Friday and Saturday nights we had lovely party scenes going on and Sunday was an absolute scorcher! In contrast to Guilfest, the site was kept immaculate by a team of litter-pickers bearing the slogan "leave no trace" on their backs. No kidding. We all felt that food and particularly drink was way overpriced at the Big Chill, although it was all of a good standard. However, this was just one negative point in an otherwise excellent event that definitely lived up to its name.
Next up was Celtic Blue Rock festival, in LLanfyrnach, West Wales. Another one day event, this was a community festival trying to raise money to save a local school from closure. Set on a hilltop on a local farmer's land - a hotchpotch of marquees, cafes and stalls and some lovely vehicles - this event had the feel of a proper old-style free festival. Attended by as many local people as festival-goers, it was good to hear all the announcements being given in Welsh before English. With the school choir having a turn as well as lots of local bands, there was plenty to entertain everyone. And the local police, who had been worried by the prospect of a festival on their patch, had nothing to do, despite the attendance being 50% more than the licence allowed. The only admission charge was an 'eco-tax' of £10 per vehicle parked. Eco-Arcadia agreed to donate all its profits to the school charity, and after a very successful day was able to contribute £180. We were impressed by the general level of awareness of BioDiesel at this event; many people were fairly knowledgeable. Due to this year's success, the organisers are already planning a bigger event for next year. Great.
Leaving Wales, we headed south-west to Devon, to Shambala. This festival was in a country park just outside Plymouth, although once on site, you could've been in the middle of nowhere. Beset by bad weather and inundated by wasps, we struggled through relatively unscathed. In fact, they gave us a great pitch next to the main stage and we had a lot of fun there. We even managed to pack everything up in a few rare dry hours before heading off to our penultimate event of the year.
Beautiful Days is the Levellers' festival, held in Escot Park near Exeter. We were disturbed to discover, on arrival, that our pitch was on a hill. Not the best conditions for pinball or table football but we dug in what we could and blocked up the rest and somehow managed to get the games level. We were also surprised to discover that the festival started on Saturday morning, instead of Friday afternoon, which made it quite a short event. That notwithstanding, the festival site was really pretty, and well organised, and we were happy to be part of the kids' area, which we felt was very well run. As such, we saw a lot of kids over the weekend, which was great as they tend to be more environmentally aware than a lot of adults, and are really interested in the BioDiesel. We had a party on Saturday night though, which went on until dawn.
Finally, we came home to Brighton BASS day. The first independent community festival to be allowed on the Level for some years, we were really pleased to be invited. It allowed a lot of local people, who'd heard about the arcade but hadn't been able to get to one of our events, to see what we were doing, and it felt good to contribute something to the local community. It was a shame that the Lost Vagueness festival was on the same weekend, as it meant we couldn't do that, although we were invited.
Eco-Arcadia has been put away for the winter. But we're looking forward to next year, when hopefully we'll be able to do both of the above, plus a few more besides. If you are interested in having Eco-Arcadia at your event, please contact us.
Thanks to: Bela. Andy Netherwood, Andy Welburn. Tim and Steff. Roy and the Lost Vagueness crew. Tony Scott, Brendan, Stuart, Jeff. Sarah and Nush. Pete Brown, Bill Davies, Kaz and crew. Sid, Chris, Denis and Charlotte and the Stereophonic crew. David Farrow, Helen Hat, Amanda, Jos, Fluffy. Dinky, Stevie T, Sue and Jo, Roustabout crew, Wango's crew, Snug, and many others, too numerous to list. Without your cooperation, support and friendship, this year would've been far more difficult and less enjoyable than it was.