Kendal held its first ever Mintfest between August 31st - September 2nd this year.
The festival’s organisers claimed it would feature some of the best and most unusual outdoor performers and artists from around the world. Certainly the standard was very high and the show attracted 11,000 visitors, not bad for the first show of its kind!
Performers from 10 countries took part including acts and diverse as
‘Cricket ‘commentators passing hilarious commentary on unsuspecting passers by, a Japanese street performer performing amazing feats with everything from teapots to parasols and Spanish performance ‘hairdressers’ turning ordinary audience members into strange and exotic creatures with the aid of theatrical makeup and the odd hairpiece.
Kendal’s most famous confectionary didn’t appear to feature prominently in the line up but there was a (literally!) naked lunch for the opening event. This was staged by the French performance group Cacahuete who invited the guests to serve themselves a selection of cold meats off a very unusual platter!
Based on the success of the event at the weekend funding has already been established for another street arts festival to take place next year.
I for one am really pleased to see such a vibrant and quirky new festival start up in Cumbria. If you know of any more new festivals coming up then please let me know so that I can feature it here in the News section.
