Memory Lane: A Festival of Food and Friends

"I told my friend, that's the beauty of Shropshire...not much changes"

That was the phrase that really stuck with me from this last weekend.

It's quite an evoking phrase. Meant with endearment (as it was at the time) it can make you see our County for what it is...A homely place, filled with happy memories and familiarity that can be comforting to those returning to a place where they grew up.

You could however, re-read it in a negative way.

If someone said to you, "Oh I see not much changes with you!", chances are you probably wouldn't take it kindly and would politely inquire as to what that person was referring to?!

Well surely the same logic could be applied here, right?

Now I'm the first to admit that Shropshire, Shrewsbury in particular, is not the anywhere near the nations capital...and nor would it want to be!

It understands it's place in the world as a historical centrepiece of a farming county. A town that bridges the gap between yocals, locals and out-of-towners. A town that still contains it's history whilst allowing modernity to creep in gradually... most often in the form of a new restaurant and growing up and living here it's easy to wax lyrical about the splendours of this town...and at the same time it's just as easy to do the same thing about all the things that change at a snails pace!

But it's not until someone points it out every now and again that you are reminded of how protective you can feel for something you just happen to be a part of.
Needless to say, that sentence has made it's way in to my consciousness whichever way you take it and proved to be the base against which the rest of my weekend would be judged.

The weekend in question is that of 28th and 29th June 2014. One that I had been looking forward to for some time.

One random Saturday evening in March we received a Facebook event invite to a friend's 30th birthday party on the 28th June in our home town of Shrewsbury and it soon became apparent that the evening would be the first time in a long time that our group of friends would be back in the same room at the same time together...reminiscing about being over 10 years on from college and realising that mentally we are probably still pretty much there as well!

Since leaving college, like any group of friends, people branch out on multiple paths and it seems a number of those branches have led all the way to "Ol' London Town".
Friendships have of course remained but organising multiple lives in multiple locations to congregate in one place at the same time has been a rarity over the years.

And in case you were wondering, it was one of these friends who uttered the sentence that began this blog post, not realising the impact that those 12 words could have.

The evening itself went off superbly! It was filled with drinking, dancing, picture taking and reminiscing... whilst new memories were made along the way...all whilst celebrating the latest milestone in our friends' life.

And just having this one event happen this weekend would have been enough to walk back in to work on Monday and when asked the usual, "So, how was your weekend?" question, respond with a hearty "awesome!"
But as part of the build up discussions of people being around for the weekend, talk soon switched to potential Sunday activities...and with a huge slice (pun intended) of coincidence, there was only one festival to be seen at and only one place to be (outside of Glastonbury that is) that weekend...

The Shrewsbury Food Festival!

In to it's second year, The Shrewsbury Food Festival can boast 2 things at the least:

1) Over 10,000 attendees in it's first year

2) A buzz of excitement felt so far and wide in this County and beyond that it would be easy to imagine double that number of visitors this time round.

Obviously it can boast many other things too and this year over 200 local exhibitors could be found surrounded by the luscious backdrop that the Quarry has to offer.
Also, being an avid Twitter user, I was quick to follow @ShrewsFoodFest to keep up with all of the news and announcements surrounding the two-day event, expecting to see lots of pictures of food and drink and be ultimately in a state of pure hunger for months to come.
What I didn't expect was to witness the excitement, build up and reaction first hand for an event taking place in my hometown...remember, where nothing changes apparently!

A sense of togetherness even in 140 characters.

The build up to both events that weekend made the wait both unbearable and also quicker than expected but all of a sudden the weekend was upon us.

Those of you in the Shropshire area that week will know that the weather Monday to Thursday could only be described in one word... Glorious!
The sun beamed out in the daytime and elongated the evenings in to humid nights...meaning only one thing...something had to give!
And unfortunately as the week went on it became apparent that it was likely to give Friday night and in to the weekend. Which it did with a thunderous bang and downpour on the Friday daytime, clearing in to the evening.
So when I awoke early on Saturday morning to the sound of yet more torrential rain I feared the worst for all of the festival goers.

Following the event as it unfolded on Twitter on the Saturday, it was clear to see how much of a success it had been even on day one...
The rain subsided, the ground dried up and judging by my newsfeed across all social media platforms, half of the people I know were enjoying the delights that the hundreds of exhibitors had to offer.
And with a forecast for the following day looking far more promising, it made me all the more excited to sample it's delights on the Sunday as planned.

Due to hangovers, journeys back to the big smoke and other commitments, we were no longer venturing to the Food Festival as a group of friends, instead my girlfriend and I took my Mother and agreed with everyone that we would meet up at some point during the day.

Parking at the bottom of Wyle Cop, we decided to venture up through the town and were instantly greeted by waves of people also en route to the Quarry.

As we entered the familiar blue iron gates that surround the top entrance for this area of Shrewsbury town, it soon became clear that we were not alone in our idea for a great way to spend a Sunday.

The gates on the Sunday opened at 10am and less than an hour in to the day, stamp on hand and raring to samples as many delights as humanly possible, we walked through the top entrance and stared down in to the quarry to see crowds easily already in the thousands...a figure that only grew as lazy Sunday mornings turned in to adventurous outings and the sun continued to shine.

There were picnic blankets lining the main central green and folk music fluttering towards us from under the large TiPi opposite. And so came our first and hardest question of the day...

Where do we start?

But start we did...turning left to sample all of the delights that the top half had to offer...
An hour and a half later, we were still in that top half!

It was a foodie's heaven. We were no more than 3 stalls in and we made our first purchase, a hickory smoked bbq sausage roll...followed closely by pain au chocolat, butterscotch cake, coffee and walnut cake and ice cream...and don't judge us on the random order and combinations, if you weren't there you wouldn't understand, it was a place to over indulge and do it in style.

We sampled syrups and biscuits, strawberries and pastries. We met up with friends and family. We watched cooking demos and special classes put on by Brompton Cooker School.
Time was simply flying by!

Eventually we made our way down the Quarry and found the lunch vans offering items such as Fish and Chips or Shropshire Beef Baguette, jacket potatoes or salads...just in case you hadn't filled up from the 100 or so stalls we'd passed so far!

And after over 5 hours spent sampling anything and everything, making our way carefully around the entire site we decided our stomachs could handle no more...well until we got home and sampled the delights of our purchases all over again!

And even venturing up in to the town after exiting the Quarry grounds, it was clear to see the buzz and excitement for all things foody and Shrewsbury related...helped largely by the ever increasing temperatures of the afternoon sun.

I think it's fair to say that Shrewsbury is now realising it's potential as a food hub. Ludlow has always been referred to as "The place to eat" in Shropshire, drawing people from far and wide to it's Food Hall and Michelin starred restaurant but with the impact that a simple idea between friends growing in to an event that brings all tastes of Shropshire and beyond together in one central location, it is clear to feel the scent of change in the air. Shrewsbury can boast an historic yet cosmopolitan blend of tastes and cultures that are being reflected more and more with the choice of establishments offered.

Maybe it is the maturing side of me finally appreciating what has been right under my nose all along?
Maybe it is the nostalgia of old friends returning to the place where we met?
Maybe it is that Shrewsbury is becoming a more food-centric place to be?
Maybe it is all of the above?

Whatever it may be, all of this points to one thing...

Compared to some places, things don't change quickly in Shropshire...but that is the beauty of it!

And after experiencing all that the Shrewsbury Food Festival had to offer and seeing that evolve in to a growing passion for all things Shropshire from inside and outside of our County it is obvious to see the winds of change are definitely coming...and what better place to be when it does!