REVIEW: Innocent Village Fete [Festival Fever]

REVIEW: Innocent Village Fete

Posted on August 4, 2008 6:21 PM
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Innocent Village Fete
Regent's Park
Sunday August 3rd, 2008

Review by Adam Walker

In stark comparison to last weekend’s sunshine and ice-cream sponsored fest, the year’s second corporate shindig kicked off to bucket loads of rain and wind – but like the British weather itself, spirits weren’t dampened and brollies became everyone’s must-have accessory – we’d like to think of it as our very own canvas with which we retreated to – almost like the tented kind at Glastonbury. But that would just be marketing spin.

Once named Fruitstock and the template for family-led frolics, it soon became apparent that Innocent were irked to be the leaders in their field and set about creating their very own version of a village fete to counteract the Ben and Jerry’s of this world – much like their infamous smoothies; unique, original and a quirky-style that’s hard to beat.

Like last year’s inaugural fete, we had much of the same shenanigans in Regent’s Park, albeit wet. James Taylor Quartet headlined on Saturday, whilst Angus and Julia Stone threw the punches on Sunday – this was very much background music to the activities and food and drink stalls on offer; the tented palaces that held them probably wouldn’t have been as full if they weren’t acting as respite from the awful weather. Unlike Ben and Jerry’s last weekend and the majority of main-stage led festivals, the music here sprung up all over the place – and in the least likely of places – during the ferret racing and duck herding and even next to a flea circus.

The beauty of this ‘festival’ was truly bringing everyone together. And it worked. Giant Boggle, Book Tombola and Poetry Boyband intermingled with a huge farmers’ market; stalls offering advice on anything from cutting your gas bills to stocking up on Yorkshire Tea. A personal favourite being the Ecover stand – organic and eco logical cleaning for the twenty-first century – and samples and show offers galore to help educate people’s minds.

This was a joyous day out and faultless, except for the weather. The endless supply of free smoothies certainly helped, and far more healthier than last weekend. Innocent have raised the bar yet again.

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