Member Article

Urban gardening festival shortlisted for top events award

Dig the City, Manchester’s urban gardening festival, which was held for nine days in August, is the only North West event to be short-listed for Cultural Event of the Year at the UK Events Awards 2013.

Competing alongside four other shortlisted entries including from London and Glasgow, the Manchester contender hopes to take home the trophy for the successful summer event that brought thousands of people to a gardening extravaganza in the city’s retail district.

The festival transformed the streets with a forest, show gardens, children’s activities with the National Trust, fine food, giant artworks and talks by horticultural experts including BBC Gardener’s World’s Monty Don and Rachel de Thame. Dig the City also left a lasting green legacy for Manchester with 75 trees relocated to The Co-Operative’s NOMA development site, and many local businesses benefitted from donations of plants and garden materials.

The event attracted £1.34 million of press coverage and achieved an impressive up-lift in footfall across the city’s shopping streets - over 30% rise on King Street and 24% rise on New Cathedral Street compared to the same period last year. The event also helped to boost retail sales which were up 5% compared to the previous August. Visitors were also impressed - 92% surveyed rated the festival as good or excellent.

The event was delivered in partnership with various suppliers by Manchester-based events company Don’t Panic, for the Heart of Manchester Business Improvement District (BID) and CityCo, Manchester’s city centre management company. Dig the City was funded by the city’s retailers.

Jane Sharrocks, Heart of Manchester BID Chair and General Manager, Selfridges Exchange Square said: “This was the first event delivered by the new Heart of Manchester Business Improvement District and we’re thrilled with the positive response. There’s no question that Dig the City is set to grow and has the potential to be one of Manchester’s biggest summer attractions. This nomination is great recognition for all the hard work from the team. We can’t wait for next year.”

Nicky Wake, Managing Director of Don’t Panic said: “We’re thrilled to be shortlisted for this award. It was fantastic to see the city’s streets transformed and deliver immediate results for local businesses. We worked hard with the team to programme an attractive and interesting event that would attract a mix of families, residents and day-trippers and are looking forward to the challenge of helping to develop the event next year.”

Dig the City will return from Saturday 2 – Sunday 10 August 2014. Partner and sponsorship opportunities are available.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Simon Malia .