Preparations for the tenth Lincolnshire BIG Sausage Festival are well underway.
The festival, which is organised by the Rotary Club of Lincoln Colonia, in association with the Tastes of Lincolnshire, Lincolnshire County Council and the Lincoln Business Improvement Group, takes place at Lincoln Castle on Saturday, October 27th.
The idea of a sausage festival came from a member of the Rotary Club almost a decade ago. Mark Brewer, of the club, explained: “All these places have all these festivals to celebrate so many different things, why don’t we celebrate the Lincolnshire sausage?
“So, as a group, we actually wrote to a few stallholders that were already working with the traditional farmers market and asked them if they wanted to come along.”
He continued: “The festival has just grown and grown. This year, we’ve got at least 51 stalls booked in, which is huge.”
For 2012, the festival expands to the Lincoln Cathedral, which is also open to the public. Brewer said: “We’ve managed to get the cathedral on board. This year, they’ve got a food and farming celebration actually inside the cathedral.”
Despite the addition of the Lincoln Cathedral, the remainder of the event will remain the same. Brewer explained: “We’ve enhanced it in that way to try and attract more people to it, but we’ve also kept the things that worked from year on year. Basically, if it’s not broken, don’t change it.”
Television chef, Rachael Green and Neil Curtis from Curtis’ of Lincoln will be providing cookery demonstrations on the day, with entertainment coming from The Europa Clowns and The Cosmic Sausages.
Last year’s event attracted over 11,000 people. Brewer believes that this year could see even more people attend the festival: “The weather holds such a big key to the event. If the weather is nice in the morning when people get up, then they tend to come.”
He continued: “The castle has already said that all their free events this year are up to 40% up. We could end up with as much as 14,000 people which, for a voluntary organisation, is just superb.”
Brewer concluded: “It’s just such a fun day and there’s just so much going on. Come down to enjoy it. It’s not just the sights, it’s the smells. It’s brilliant.”
The Lincolnshire BIG Sausage Festival takes place on Saturday, October 27th. Entry to the castle and the cathedral is free and both are open from 10am. Last entry to the festival is at 3.30pm, with the festival concluding at 4pm.