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    17

    May 2021

    Last Updated: 17/05/2021
    Business
    Business

    Deer Shed festival outlines social distancing measures

    by Stuart Minting Local Democracy Reporter

    | 17 May, 2021
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    About 4,000 tickets will go on sale tomorrow for this year's live music event at Baldersby, which has been revamped due to covid.

    deershed
    Deer Shed Festival, which is held in Baldersby.

    One of the country’s leading family-oriented festivals has outlined some of the public health measures it will introduce to ensure safety at this year's revamped event.

    The annual Deer Shed Festival was cancelled because of problems securing covid cancellation insurance.

    Instead, organisers have created Deer Shed: Base Camp Plus, which is a smaller camping festival from July 30 and August 1 at Baldersby, on the edge of the Harrogate district.

    Ahead of tickets going on sale tomorrow, its director Oliver Jones said it would be run on a socially-distanced basis, rather than testing attendees, to maintain as much of the festival’s distinctiveness as possible.

    Even though the event doesn't take place until the end of July, it has been designed to meet step three restrictions in the government’s roadmap, which came into force this week.

    Mr Jones, who runs the festival on 90 acres of parkland, said the decision had meant it could feature the likes of comedians John Shuttleworth, Mark Watson, and Flo and Joan as well as female-fronted music headliners Jane Weaver, Dream Wife and Porridge Radio.



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    While recent runnings of the festival have seen about 10,000 people attending, organisers say as a result of social distancing requirements there would be fewer than 4,000 festival-goers at this year's Base Camp Plus event.

    Those attending will need to wear masks in covered areas and the event will feature table bar service.

    Among measures festival organisers will introduce to meet public health tests, being led by North Yorkshire County Council, include that each of the 850 camping pitches will have a toilet alongside.

    Mr Jones said:

    “It’s going to look mad with a lot of toilets dotted around the place. We want to make it as bullet-proof in this current environment as we can because there will be more festival cancellations and anyone who thinks the festival summer season is on is fairly deluded.
    “The unlocking timetable took the festival industry by surprise, but for Boris to say there’s an end to restrictions is very much not true. Large events are not going to be back to normal.”


    A spokesman for the council said all such events would be reviewed by the local safety advisory group, which would consider if the event organiser was ensuring all mitigations were in place to protect the public.




    Checks for the festival will include that it can demonstrate safe and effective management of crowd density, how queues can be managed effectively, its ability to ensure the use of face coverings and enhanced cleaning, hand washing and hygiene procedures. For details, visit deershedfestival.com/basecampplus.