You may recall that last year the Dorothy Pax didn’t run their Canal Lines event on Tramlines festival weekend with a live music stage outside their canal side bar at Victoria Quays as the Canal & Rivers Trust no longer allow it.
Instead, the guys from the Pax put on a new event, Pax in the Park, at Heeley People’s Park with a busy programme of live music, food vendors, a bar and free entry.
Being able to offer free entry to all at this fringe festival was only possible thanks to money left from their successful application to the Arts Council England’s Culture Recovery Fund, which had paid for improvements to the sound system at the Dorothy Pax bar to help them as a live entertainment venue.
This year, of course all that grant is gone, it has also been a hard year in the hospitality business with significantly increased operating costs as well as customers going out less frequently thanks to the cost of living crisis, so they have very little funds spare to start up such an event – it costs in the region of £85k to put on.
Team Pax are still well up for running Pax in the Park again this year, from 21-23 July, with a stage in Heeley People’s Park hosting some top class live music supported by a bar serving quality slurps from local breweries and vendors selling delicious street food. They passionately believe it should be a community spirited free entry event too. They are asking for help though…
- contributions to a crowd funder to help pay for the infrastructure at gofundme.com/f/freepaxpark
- corporate sponsorship
- volunteers to help on the day with things like stewarding, marshalling, litter picking and generally ensure the event fits in the local community happily
More information can be found on the Dorothy Pax website at dorothypax.com/freepaxpark.
