While the Bodmin Riding & Heritage Festival was postponed in its usual format till 2021 in light of Covid-19, we are pleased to announce our plans to mark this year's festival with a series of alternative celebrations.
Although we couldn't share what was shaping up to be a brilliant event with you all as planned, we are putting our hard work and enthusiasm to good use. We Busy Rebels are planning to champion the aims of the festival, to preserve community positivity, and share Bodmin town’s heritage, pride and strong spirit in these strange times by holding some new and unusual elements of the festival, which include:
Make a Bodmin Beast Competition
New deadline: 5th July June | Winner Announced after the festival
Categories: Children / Adults / Business
Submit entries via email, Facebook or Twitter with the hashtag #BodminBeast2020
Don't forget to put your beasts on display over the Festival Weekend!
Residents young and old are being asked to create their own mythical Bodmin Beast. The town has numerous historic associations with creatures from myth and legend ranging from dragons to piskies and of course the iconic beast of Bodmin. Hannah Irwin, Festival Chair, said, “There is no limit on how creative you can be. With a prizewinner in each category, including one for children, one for grownups and one for any businesses who want to take part, we want to see an amazing beast from your imagination. It could be made from clay, knitted, drawn or junk modeled - we know some people are going to have spare toilet rolls lying around at home! We can’t wait to see what everyone comes up with. We’re asking people to share their pictures with us on social media using the hashtag #BodminBeast2020, or you can send pictures by email to getinvolved@bodminridingandheritagefestival.org.uk by the deadline, and we’ll share our favourites! We'll be announcing the winners after the festival. We also want everyone to put their creation proudly on display for the festival weekend, Friday 3rd to Sunday 5th July. Whether this is a mini-beast in your window or a sculptural scarecrow in your garden, hopefully they’ll bring a smile to peoples faces.”
Riding Rebel Award
Nominate your Riding Rebel favourite by email or via social media by the extended deadline: 2nd July. Winner announced 4th July.
We need you to nominate someone for our brand new Riding Rebel Award. The origins of the award name come from the rebellious spirit of Bodmin residents, described in 1549 as ‘Busy Rebels,’ a term festival organisers have taken on for themselves and their supporters since the festival’s return last year. Sophie Hodge, committee member explained, “The Riding Rebel Award for 2020 is designed to celebrate and say thank you for the contribution of someone in our community who has gone above and beyond to help others during these challenging times. We’ve watched with pride at the extraordinary things Bodmin residents have done to support each other and we wanted to mark that with our award, which we’re opening up to the community for nominations. These can be made on social media or by emailing us at getinvolved@bodminridingandheritage.org.uk before the deadline. There are so many worthy nominees we’re already aware of, it is going to be an enormous challenge for the committee to choose just one, but we’ll be announcing our 2020 Riding Rebel on Saturday 4th July.”
Online Celebrations | Sat 4th July
Saturday 4th July will see the festival move online for a small celebration on the usual date of the main ‘Heritage Day’ event. Robert Dawson, committee member said, “Our feeling was we all now deserve some form of community celebration. On Saturday 4th July over on our Facebook page we will be looking back at memories of the festival from years gone by, along with announcing winners from our Bodmin Beasts competition and Rebel Award, plus sharing new contributions from Bodmin’s incredible community groups and businesses created especially for the virtual festival.’ With content already being created by popular community youth dance group KBSK, award winning Bodmin Youth Band and various local businesses, anyone else keen to contribute is encouraged to get in touch with us on getinvolved@bodminridingandheritage.org.uk.
Further details of how to take part can be found on the 2020 page, here, on the Facebook page @BodminRidingHeritage and on banners and notices in Bodmin town centre locations, designed to reach those not online.
As well as this year's alternative celebrations during the first weekend of July, the Festival will return as usual in 2021, taking place from Friday 2nd to Sunday 4th July, with the main event on Saturday 3rd July.