Brightlingsea WinterFest’s final weekend is coming up and organisers have been working behind the scenes to ensure that the festival ends on a high note, despite the fact that some performers and volunteers have been hit by Covid.
The virus has forced a few acts and a key volunteer to pull out of WinterFest’s “Great Big Music Day”, scheduled for Sunday March 27 at Brightlingsea British Legion.
But the maxim that “The show must go on” has prevailed and local musicians have pulled together to make sure that the event will take place, starting at 2pm and volunteers have rallied to organise a cake sale at the venue to mark Mothers’ Day.
A dozen acts were originally on Sunday’s programme and by mid-week four had been affected by Covid.
But organiser and WinterFest co-founder Dave Griffiths said: “We have decided that, in the great tradition of entertainment, the show must go on. We have been contacting other local musicians to form a “community players” outfit just for this event and we are all working together to re-arrange the programme and make it happen.
“We know that there is a lot of goodwill out there for WinterFest, which has been going well throughout March with a range of music and spoken word attractions. We are sure that people who come along to our final weekend’s events will have a good time and will help round off the month in a positive way.”
On Saturday, March 26, WinterFest’s “Blooming Good Vibes” event will take place as planned at Ye Olde Swan in Brightlingsea, from 8pm, with a relaxing blend of indie, pop and folk music.
The special on-line concert for WinterFest by Brightlingsea’s blues stars, When Rivers Meet, which had been due to take place on Thursday, March 24, but was affected by Covid, will be re-scheduled for a date in the near future.
Entry is free to the Blooming Good Vibes event at Ye Olde Swan on Saturday evening and the music day at The British Legion on Sunday.
Donations and money raised by the cake sale will to go towards the WinterFest Wellbeing Fund, which helps support local people. A proportion of the money raised by this year’s WinterFest will also go to the mental health charity, Mid and North East Essex Mind and to the Disasters Emergency Committee appeal, to help people in Ukraine.
