We are open for 2025 applications

We are CLOSED for 2024 applications 

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Jump to application links.

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WHERE?

We have confirmed dates for one-day festivals in Gloucestershire, Wiltshire, Dorset, Somerset Devon + Cornwall.  We produce Gate to Plate  and eat:Festivals in;

Chipping Sodbury, Malmesbury, Shaftesbury, Yeovil, Castle Cary, Burnham-on-Sea, Weston-super-Mare, Portishead, Nailsea, Clevedon, Bedminster, Minehead, Bideford, Tiverton, Taunton, Wellington, Honiton, Axminster, Dawlish, Totnes, Exmouth, Tavistock and Bodmin.  

 

WHO?

eat:Festivals is run by Bev & Sarah Milner Simonds We are hands-on event managers and it us you will be dealing with throughout your application, on-boarding and trading days. 

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WHAT?

The festivals are celebrations of local food + drink. We gather producers, smallholders, bakers, butchers, artisan makers from the land around the festival town. Add in some musicians, entertainers, community activists and performers for an unmissable vibe. We invite all the folks who call the place home, or who might be dreaming of it, and who are curious, adventurous, discerning and hoping to be delighted by you. From 10-4, the day sees thousands of visitors and enough traders to fill the heart of the town. 

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HOW TO APPLY?

All applications to trade or take part are made using an online process, Eventree, which can be found using the link buttons below. This process is best completed on a desktop or laptop. You will need to upload various documents. 

Here are our Terms and Conditions for 2025 applications.

You’ll need your own gazebo, stall and display, and valid insurance and safety certificates. There are a couple of indoor venues, in Burnham and Weston.

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HOW MUCH?

Pitch fees reflect the relative risk you undertake by trading; freshly made and perishable produce pitch fees are lower than preserved foods, higher margin drinks & food-to-go trades at a reasonable rate. Pitch fees are charged per 3x3m outdoor pitch or more for larger pitches on a pro rata basis. Indoor pitch sizes will be 3m frontage with two tables or as specified on application. Our pitch fees are slightly higher than a regular Farmers Market but well below a music festival or agricultural show.

 

ANY DISCOUNTS?

• Bursary for brand new producers. This includes a free pitch, and practical and business support for 1 year. All new producers are eligible. You will be asked your trading start date on the application form and we will follow up with you if you are selected by the committee. Up to 30 businesses per year. 

• Dirty Thirty is a subsidised first pitch for primary producers: growers, smallholders, stalkers, foragers, permaculturists, orchardists, regenerative farmers. We want our visitors to understand what you do and we ask you to answer some specific questions in your stall display. There is more information and a link from the Fresh Produce application form. 

• Crafty Halfty is a half price pitch for makers, artists, crafters and artisans who can host an engaging demo, geek meet-up, or hands-on activity at your stall during the festival. We want our visitors to get an experience of the skill and knowledge that you pour into what you do. There is more information and a link from the Craft, Art & Non Food Gifts application form. ​

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WHICH CATEGORY?

Our 4 Trader categories each have a different application form, as follows:

Food To Go

Food & drink to consume at the festival including hot drinks, hot & ambient meals, desserts & snacks. [EXCLUDING alcohol] 

Pitch fees £90 or £135 plus 10% of gross above £1500

 

Fresh Produce & Preserved Goods

Fruit & veg, meat & fish, preserves and sauces in jars & bottles, confectionery, bakes & groceries, INCLUDING all alcohol.

Pitch fees £60 or £80. Some subsidies are available for primary producers. 

 

Charity, Campaigns & Community Engagement

All fundraisers, financiers, roundsmen, reiki-masters, diggers and dreamers, subscriptions, sports clubs, promotions, petitions, placard holders and plotters. You are very welcome!

There is a commercial value to a pitch and there are costs to us, but we may choose to subsidise your pitch so your pitch fees vary according to your intended activity and outcome. We welcome organisations who share our values and want to connect with our audiences and foment positive change in our communities.  As a guide, those groups using the festival to deliver their public benefit will not be charged a pitch fee. Those who are raising funds, recruiting, selling memberships or subscriptions will be charged a sliding pitch fee. 

 

Craft, Art & Non-Food Gifts

Makers who use natural materials, who make us see our world in a different way, who create objects which bring the outside in, or which lead us into the outside.

Pitch fees are £80 Some subsidies are available 

 

Levies will be charged for use of diesel, or those coming from outside of the local area [30miles].  VAT is applicable to all fees.

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WHEN? 

eat:Festivals are on Saturdays or Sundays + Bank Holidays, from 10am to 4pm, in the spring and then late summer through till midwinter.

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The festivals are timed carefully to max the opportunity for local retail & hospitality, to extend or diversify regional tourism, and to embody traditional community celebrations in each town. We typically aim to bring together enough producers to match expected footfall, with the addition of tractors, livestock, food & farming education, music or family entertainment where possible. We like to produce a glorious celebration of West Country food & drink that is good for visitors, residents, local producers and town-based businesses alike.

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WHY?

Our festivals promote and prioritise local producers, developing long-lasting links with an engaged group of consumers. They have enjoyed large footfalls of visitors who are keen to buy. We never charge them to shop. We make sure they have good reasons to stay all day. We encourage visitors and local retailers & hospitality alike to connect with you and learn about your produce, in the hope that they become regular customers. Links with potential stockists are shared beforehand so that you can do the prep and make the most of your journey. This is a collaborative enterprise and we expect all traders to engage with us and our visitors online as well as in real life on the day. 

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We go the extra mile to promote your local produce so that you don’t have to – our key objective is to develop local markets for your produce. We expect you to work each trading opportunity and to develop your own connection to that town’s businesses & residents. An eat:Festival booking is an opportunity for you to engage with potential stockists and our established reputation in the town as much as for you to sell volume on the day.

 

Trading with eat:Festivals offers you access to a supportive network of producers, to training, advice and group promotions. Members of the #eatfestivalsfamily create mutual support for developing businesses sustainably, using current best practice and reaping the full retail value of all that you make.

 

SELECTION

The festivals are open to any business which produces or sells great tasting, sustainably produced food & drink in the area local to the festival. We allocate a small number of pitches to select non-food producers, charities and community groups where space and circumstance permit. Previous participation does not guarantee a pitch although we recognise and value the loyal following that some traders build in our festival towns. 

If you’ve ever had an unsuccessful application and have addressed the reason we gave, we would love you to reapply. We will always provide a reason why an application is rejected.

Priority will be given to applicants in the following order:

1. Primary Producers who can sell their produce in person. We value highly the opportunity for consumers to be able to ask about all aspects of the food + drink they consume and hear the answer from the person who grows, rears, tends or harvests that produce themselves. 

2. Proximity to host town: typically within 30 miles or further afield if rare or exceptional. All Producers must be able to document or explain the production and traceability of their product. For community organisations, this means demonstrating the local impact of their charitable objects or community vision in response to questions from the Organiser and visitors to the festivals.

3. Relating well to festival visitors: this might include helping consumers understand the product, picking accessibly ranged price-points, having a super-cute stall & signage, developing local sales + distribution successfully or simply being particularly cheery. 

4. The produce offered allows us to create a well-balanced event: to avoid product saturation, to enable variety, to reflect current consumer interest and to maintain excellent quality. We particularly value produce that is seasonal, caters to distinct dietary choices or is hard to find.

5. Any company supplying outstanding, great tasting, sustainably and ethically produced food + drink, products or services which reflect similar values to our own, as published.  

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NEXT STEPS 

1. Apply to trade with us using the Eventree form. Links are below on this page. This is where you specify which festivals you are interested in. Please make note of your login details for future use.

2. You will receive an email confirmation from applications@eventree.co.uk when your application has been successfully submitted.

3. The next set of applications will be reviewed after the first of next month. We review applications every month. We will accept or reject your application, giving our reasons. We’ll offer you pitches at the appropriate festivals.  Your offer will come to you from Eventree. You have a cooling off period after which we have a confirmed booking, as per our Terms & Conditions.

4. We then issue a refundable deposit invoice, which will be credited to your final festival invoice, followed by your festival invoices (all from Intuit/QuickBooks).

5. We send full details of each booked festival, with logistics, pitch number, timings etc to you by email from hello@eatfestivals.org in the two weeks before the festival.
    

FULL DISCLOSURE

eat:Festivals is a social enterprise driven by clear values and we thank you for wishing to be part of the #eatfestivalsfamily. We take a lot of time considering the producers we work with. We value your feedback and your customers' feedback too.

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The following statements sum up what being part of the #eatfestivalsfamily is about:

Community: producers who help and support each other, from bursary-winning first-time traders to seasoned experts.

Well run events: our reputation is for a good footfall, effective promotion, great communication & excellent procedures.

Shared Responsibility: producers work together on pre-event promo, social media & face to face, ready for a great day's trade and lasting impact in a festival town.

Collaborative: regular 360* constructive feedback means that we all steer the development of eat:Festivals for mutual benefit.

Sustainable: award-winning sustainability practices across all elements of the festivals - ecology, society, local economy.

Fun: we don't work with tossers.

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The Organisers of eat:Festivals were the first ever festival organisers to be granted Quality in Tourism’s Safe, Clean & Legal award. Our contribution to Eating Better was screened at COP26. We have won 34 regional or national awards to date.  This has come about through the collaborative effort of all who have taken part in eat:Festivals, as well as our own work to promote and maintain their great reputation. 

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We ask a lot of you in our application process because we want to know about the care and attention that goes into your food + drink production or the service, or public benefit, you offer. It’s only fair that we share the same level of detail about us with you. You’ll find more about us and the values of our Social Enterprise in these published documents:

• Traders’ Charter states what we promise to you.

• Visitors’ Charter states what we promise to our visitors.

• Our Nutritional Values illustrates why we do what we do.

• Sustainability Statement outlines how we work toward better environmental, social and economic sustainability goals and your role in that effort.

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If you have questions about the scale of each festival, our policies or queries about getting started drop us an email at hello@eatfestivals.org

 

Bev & Sarah Milner Simonds

800 246 5200 

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YOU WILL NEED...

​​You will need an electronic copy of your public liability insurance PLI, any PAT or Gas Safe certs, a link to your FSA food hygiene rating online and a picture of your stall (if you haven't traded with us before) before you begin applying. If you don’t have any of these, tell us why and upload us something better in its place.

 

The same Eventree application can be used for all our festivals. If you’ve applied before, Computer says Hiya!.

 

If you don't get a "submitted" confirmation message on screen from Eventree than your application has NOT been submitted. The Eventree form flags any missing fields before allowing you to submit. We cannot see partially completed forms: Your patient work will be spiralling into the abyss interminably. No one will hear it scream. 

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Here are our Terms and Conditions for 2025 applications.