Sheffield Food Festival is back this May Bank Holiday weekend and organisers say it will be the biggest and boldest one yet.
The free three-day event will run from Saturday 24 to Monday 26 May and will take over large parts of the city centre, including Peace Gardens, Town Hall Square, Fargate and Pinstone Street.
Now in its third year under new local organisers, Swans Events, the festival will feature over 60 street food stalls, two music stages, and drinks from local breweries and cocktail bars.
Noemi Antonelli, Managing Director & Producer at Swans Events, said: “It is one of the flagship events for Sheffield. We’ve taken the great groundwork that was done before and looked at how we could support new traders so the public can taste new flavours and new food, while also supporting the local food scene.
“It’s very important because it’s one of the few events in the city centre that can offer local businesses that kind of exposure to become known from customers beyond Sheffield too.”
This year’s edition will see local favourites return like Caribbean Fusion, Gurdev’s Indian Street Food and The Greedy Greek Deli, as well as newcomers such as Homeboy Pizza and Bullion Chocolate Makers.
Alongside the food offerings, the festival is introducing a new music space: the ‘Busking Tent’ near Town Hall Square, which will host live performances from local artists throughout the weekend.
“We realised that the stage was great but we needed to make it bigger, more diverse, and support the emerging talent in the city with the help of grassroots music funding,” said Ms Antonelli.
This year’s line-up is being supported by Arts Council England, with help from partners like Slambarz, Yorkshire Sound Women Network and Sheffield Music College.
The festival has also been granted funding from the council which has allowed them to involve students from Sheffield Hallam College as assistant stage managers.
Last year, the festival saw over 50,000 attendees across the city centre despite the rainy weather.
Ms Antonelli also said: “The support has been incredible. Being a free festival, we rely a lot on the weather and people turning up. The fact that we had a day with rain last year and yet people still came meant the world to us.”
For more information on the festival, visit their: website