We were recently appointed by Bolton Council to transform this year’s Bolton Food and Drink Festival into a virtual event.
We produced pre-recorded content to ensure the festival still went ahead this year, albeit online.
The festival, which took place over the bank holiday weekend from 28 to 31 August 2020, was streamed online so revellers didn’t miss out on the action.
We’re in our fourth year of collaborating with Bolton Council. It was that trusted relationship combined with the our creative outlook and ability to pivot, during COVID-19, that led us to being appointed again.
As a result, the popular food and drink festival was able to go ahead despite the challenging events faced in 2020.
‘Attendees’ saw cookery TV show-style chef demonstrations, presented by ITV Granada’s Paul Crone, and Shasa’s storytime – children’s books read by Bolton Library and Museum’s Shaheen Mogradia. Foraging and gin making masterclasses featuring local celebrity chefs Andrew Nutter and Mike Harrison were very popular too.
A summer highlight for the region, both the organisers and ourselves were committed to doing everything we could to ensure it took place in the safest possible way.
“We were over the moon to have been asked to help save this year’s food and drink festival. The whole team was gutted when it was looking as though the event, like so many others, might not go ahead.”
“Pre-recording the activities during the pandemic has not been without its challenges as it’s meant a whole new way of doing things. The team’s worked tirelessly to present solutions and the end result is cracking! We can’t wait to see people’s reactions and are so happy that Covid-19 couldn’t stop this local summer tradition.” – Simon Owen, MD here at Standby.
A spokesperson at Bolton Food and Drink Festival commented: “We were devastated when we realised we wouldn’t be able to hold our annual food and drink festival, it’s Bolton’s biggest and most successful event and is something the whole team looks forward to.
“When we got the go ahead to look at a virtual edition we knew we needed to create some good quality content and, having worked with Standby Productions on many projects over the last few years, we didn’t hesitate to ask them for their help. “
The festival was a huge success and you catch a ‘best bits’ edit, produced by Bolton Council after the event here: https://www.boltonfoodanddrinkfestival.com/