Winter Droving 2023
Overview
The 28th October 2023 saw the streets of Penrith come alive with national and local artists and performers, musicians and bands for the 12th annual Winter Droving event. The festival marks the end of the harvest season and the beginning of the winter months. We welcomed the darker half of the year by inviting people to ‘wear a mask’ and join us to celebrate. Masked musicians and street performers entertained the crowds, along with a vintage fun fair and market stalls which were placed around the town to keep people happy and fed.
The finale of the Winter Droving saw our much loved magical fire and light procession make its way through the town with fire torches, musicians and giant animal lanterns
"The turnout was fantastic as it always is, I think the people of the area have grown to really love what become their droving."
"We support the Winter Droving because it's a fantastic family event and opportunity for all to come together and celebrate the local community of which we are so proud to live and work"
"Honestly, it's my favourite day of the year. You can't beat the droving atmosphere. I love it so much"
Aims
- Reach new audiences on local, regional and national platforms.
- Reach audiences that are a combination of Cumbrian locals and people from further afield, to showcase Penrith as a cultural destination and a great place to live and work.
- Accessible to all and free.
- Programme a diverse range of artists who bring distinctive, engaging and challenging arts to appeal to a full range of ages.
- Create opportunities for local businesses to join in and maximise on the increased footfall.
- Have a positive impact on the local community through opportunities to join in via the procession, performance opportunities and mask wearing, and create ownership of the event.
Curated Programme
Bands
Bands
Street Performers
Street Performers
Musicians
Highlights
16 RPM
You may have seen 16 RPM, or ‘The Carpeters’ working their way around site. This piece of urban street theatre moved around the Droving site throughout the day, carpeting whatever appeared in their way, be it bollards, fences or stone steps. Giving people the ‘red carpet’ treatment, a sea of delighted faces could be found wherever The Carpeters went.
The Baghdaddies
The Baghdaddies headlined this years event and performed a high energy cocktail of Balkan melodies, Ska, Latin grooves and Sizzling brass as thousands of people descended toward the Bandstand as our light and fire procession arrived in the centre of Penrith.
Fancy Dress for Dogs
Fancy Dress for Dogs - This year we saw the busiest ever Fancy Dress for Dogs competition. The pooch parade kicks off the event every year, this year saw 17 dogs don their favourite costumes and join the celebration
The Drover's Cup
Another highlight was the Drover's Cup; This year we had six teams that took part - Eden Police, Penrith Superlatives, Lancashire Association of Boys and Girls Clubs, Cumbria Firefighters, RSPB and A Wilderness Way.
The Ullswater Droving
The Ullswater Droving took place on Saturday 21st October in Pooley Bridge.
We worked with Walk the Plank to bring their geo-lights project to the local area.
In addition to this, we had Spark! drummers from North Shields providing musical entertainment. Over 2000 people attended to witness the event, and there were around 200 volunteers participating in the project with Walk the Plank.
In The Press
Mask making
Mask Making
We partnered up with Penrith Library and Rheged Discovery Centre to hold mask making workshops for the local community.
100 children took part in the workshops at Rheged, which were lead by local Artist Alex Jacob-Whitworth, the workshops were a success and were fully booked throughout the day.
An estimated 80 adults and children participated at the mask making station at Penrith Library
A Wilderness Way provided a mask making stand on King Street at the event for people to make masks on the day of the Droving
"It was exciting, atmospheric, a fair like spectacle which instilled a pride in Penrith, I hope it continues for many years to come!"
"it’s the best event I know of in Cumbria and certainly in Penrith, it feels safe, family friendly, well organised, I feel proud it happens in my local town"
Local groups who took part
Environmental Impact
Market traders were held to our ‘minimum standards’ including
a ban on single use plastic bags, single serving sauce sachets, and polystyrene serve-ware.
We re-used left over stock from previous years when selling Winter Droving promotional masks, and have kept any left over stock to do the same in future.
This year we did not have a main stage, this decision reduced our energy use.
Our funfair used a super silent generator to reduce noise pollution.
We asked our audience to fill in our survey on what element of the Winter Droving creates the most carbon, to bring awareness to our audience. Our audience voted that visitors are the biggest carbon producers.
Wherever possible none-dated promotional materials were used, which can be reused year on year, and most information was published online for people to download,
or visitors were encouraged to photograph information for use throughout the day.
Eden Arts as a charity adhere to our environmental policy and report annually to Julie's Bicycle
Economic Impact
25,000 visitors at the Winter Droving
2,500 visitors at the Ullswater Droving
Travelled an average distance of 54 miles
With an average spend of £65
£1.7 Million generated for the local ecomony
Income Sources
Public Sector Funders
Partners
Event Sponsors
Fancy dress for dogs
Sponsorship
This year we raised £15,000 in cash sponsorship.
Our key sponsors were The Leo Group, AST Signs, The Idol and Penrith Chamber of Trade and Commerce.
We received in-kind support from 9 local businesses:
- Cranstons
- The George Hotel
- TJ Ewebank
- St Andrew’s Parish Rooms
- Beacon Fire Protection
- Vets 4 Pets
- The Lion Gallery
- Angel Lane Chippy
- Sainsburys
- Waitings
- Cumberland and Westmorland Herald
In addition to the in-kind sponsorship, businesses also sponsored lanterns which were then carried, pulled and pushed in the fire torch procession which is the penultimate event of the day.
- Strictly Dental
- Lake District Estates/Ullswater Steamers
- Brunswick Yard
- Dodd & Co
- Thermafleece
- Leo Group
- Vets4Pets
- The Idol
Method Statement
The audience responses and data were collected via an online survey and in person on the day of the event. We collected 200 responses.
In 2019 we used an app for measuring crowd density to get an approximate figure for overall attendance.
The same calculations were used this year. Measured through https://www.mapchecking.com
The average spend and the spend into local economy calculations are based on data collected in the survey and multiplied by the estimated audiences.
Join the Celebration: Support Winter Droving!
Contribute or volunteer to help us continue this quintessential Cumbrian tradition celebrating culture, arts, and rural life.