Shropshire Star

Spice up your life with ginger festival

The streets of Market Drayton will be filled with spicy scents this weekend for the third rendition of the town's unique food festival.

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Dan Nutt of the Leek United Building Society, Tracey Edwards of the Fields Kitchen and Sarah Hopcroft of Image on Food

The Ginger & Spice Festival is celebrating the town's cultural and culinary links to Asia, gingerbread and spice. It will begin in earnest this Friday, September 27.

Children at the Grove School will be attempting to set a world record for the biggest gingerbread men decorating session ever on Friday.

One of the main events this weekend is the heritage spice trail, sponsored by the Leek United Building Society. The trail and associated free prize draw are free for all festival-goers to take part in on Friday and Saturday, and the trail is dedicated to exploring the town’s rich culinary history and heritage.

Foodie families can tour the town, learning about its history as they go and getting clues from Leek United mascot Humphrey the camel.

At each participating premises, or trail stop, children must collect the names of Humphrey’s gingerbread friends they meet along the way, and adults must answer a heritage question in order to qualify for the prize draw.

Sam Dave of Mincher-Lockett & Co Opticians and Dan Nutt of the Leek United Building Society

There will also be opportunities for sampling and tasting in the shops, cafes and pubs that are also taking part in the trail.

Festival director Julia Roberts said: "The Leek United heritage spice trail is integral to the aims and objectives of the festival which are to engage the local community with their culinary heritage and history. The Leek United heritage spice trail forms an essential part in this sharing of heritage and without their support it would be a lot harder to achieve.

"We really are delighted to be partnering again and very much hope that we can continue to grow the trail participation together.’’

There will be a spice exchange street market in Cheshire Street and live cookery theatre in the Clive & Coffyne pub, featuring top regional and national chefs.

Leek United chief executive Andrew Healy said: “We’re delighted to once again be a main sponsor of Market Drayton Ginger & Spice Festival, and we hope that visitors will enjoy exploring the town on the Leek United heritage spice trail.

"The festival is a wonderful way of giving people a real taste of everything good that Market Drayton is famous for – and we’re simply happy to be a part of that."

To see the full programme of what's on this weekend, see gingerandspicefest.co.uk