Winter festival on the Green is cancelled
PLANS for an ice rink and five-week winter festival at Islington Green have been scrapped – after the funding was pulled at the last minute.
The festival organisers said their financial backer, who was set to stump up the lion’s share of the �250,000 cost, was forced to drop out because of a family emergency.
They also blamed spiralling cost estimates – and a very wet weather forecast.
Robin Collings, a director at Open Source Productions, which was organising the festival in partnership with events firm Anything Is Possible, said: “It’s unfortunate. We had lots of strong support from the local community and we got quite far down the line.
“We’re sorry we could not come through this year, but we’re hoping the council will let us come back next year.”
Ben Pickering, director of Anything Is Possible, said: “It’s a shame. But we didn’t want to go ahead and not get it right.
“We were not looking to make a lot of money, just to cover the costs of the event. But it was going to be too much of a risk.”
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The event, which was to run from November 25 to January 3, was called off on Monday night.
As well as the 300-square-metre ice rink, it would have featured a Santa’s grotto, 26 market stalls and a bar selling mulled wine and hot toddies.
