Chester’s first Active Travel Festival is nearly here
Chester’s first Active Travel Festival will take place on Sunday 18 June at the Castle Square car park (CH1 2DN) from 11am to 4pm.
The official 11:30am opening ceremony will be attended by local dignitaries: Council leader, Louise Gittins, Chester MP Samantha Dixon, and Lord Mayor Sheila Little, as well as Simon O’Brien, active travel commissioner for the Liverpool City Region and former Brookside actor.
Entry to ‘ATfest’ is free, family friendly and well-behaved dogs are welcome.
Active travel means walking, cycling or wheeling (scooters, wheelchairs and adapted bikes) so there is something for everyone.
The event aims to encourage all local residents to think about using active travel options to get into and through Chester.
The main festival site will be the lower car park in front of Chester Castle where there will be a range of informative, entertaining and fun attractions.
In the main festival village, visitors can try Ginger eScooters, watch stunt bike displays, get their bike checked by Dr Bike, try eBikes and adapted mobility bikes, and visit exhibitors as diverse as Cheshire Police and Stagecoach. Refreshments will be available from food and drink stalls, with a picnic area and entertainment from local radio station Dee 106.3.
As part of ATfest fringe activities there will be an exclusive preview of the film ‘The Last Rider’ (not on general release until 23 June) with a 6pm screening at Storyhouse. There will also be a schools poster competition at the University of Chester Riverside Innovation Centre, a self-guided interactive Time Travelling treasure hunt along Chester’s historic Rows and walking tours starting at the Town Hall Visitor Information Centre.
The event will highlight and demonstrate the use of active travel routes that may not be familiar to many people. If you want to find out how to get from A to B in the city, by walking, cycling or wheeling, but don’t know if there is a suitable route, then this is the event for you.
The Council’s Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Environment, Transport and Highways, Councillor Karen Shore said: “With our Active Travel England grant the Council is delighted to offer funding to support this wonderful event.
“Monitoring and evaluation from the grant award will be used to determine the impact of such events on long term changes to travel behaviour. Active travel is good for your health, your wallet and the environment.
“Any increase in active travel will help the Council achieve our declared objective to become a carbon neutral borough by 2045.
“To tackle any obstacles and make active travel better, we need to understand the barriers so that we can help to plan towards an active travel network that works better for Chester. Feedback via pre and post festival surveys will be very much appreciated by the event organisers.”
One of the organisers, Stephen Perry of the Chester Cycling Campaign said: “Active Travel Festival will offer local families the opportunity to realise that Chester is far more accessible than many realise for those that wish to walk, cycle or ‘wheel’ into the city.
“We want people to learn how to best access the city on routes that are available, to know how much support and information exists for those that wish to enjoy active travel and most of all to have fun on the day.”
For more information, including how to get there, see the event’s website at: https://atfest.uk/ and to complete a pre and post event survey to enter a free prize draw with a first prize of a £1000 cycle voucher.
