ORGANISERS of this year’s Malton Food Lovers Festival are encouraging the town’s shops to get involved by bringing their businesses out on to the streets.

Now in its seventh year, the event attracts about 20,000 visitors with about 150 stall holders already confirmed to attend the festival, this year on May 23 and 24.

Festival organiser Sam Welply told members of the newly-formed Malton Chamber of Trade, that he was keen to get businesses and organisations in the town involved by organising their own food-related displays both inside and outside their premises.

“There is a real opportunity for local people to get involved,” he said.

“We are not just here to put on a festival, we are here to support their ideas of local businesses and support the town.”

The meeting heard that new plans for this year’s festival included extending the festival to 10pm on the Saturday and holding a community event in Finkle Street.

“We are inviting groups such as Scout, the WI or sport groups for example, to take part in a ‘community kitchen’ and set up food-related stands,” he said. “It’s a chance to show what they do, sell some goods and promote their organisations.”

Sam said it was also planned to have a programme rolling on from the day events through to the evening to encourage visitors to stay and eat in the town.

“We are encouraging retailers to stay open longer in the hope that it will benefit them and promote what Malton has to offer during the evening,” he said. “There will be appropriate lighting for the stalls and we are hoping for a firework finale.”

David Lloyd Williams, a town councillor and member of Malton and Norton Area Partnership, asked if Wheelgate could also be closed to traffic.

“Stalls there would help the rest of the town and the shops and cafés there who are often feel left out from the festival,” he said. “Also, could one or two of the empty shops in Malton be used by traders in Norton as temporary premises for their businesses during the festival?”

Sam said that they wanted to do all they could to encourage more retailers from outside the Market Place to take part and ideas include a treasure hunt.

“It is important everyone makes the maximum benefit of the festival weekend, so please get involved and we’ll do all we can to help and support you,” he added.

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