A picnic with a difference is to be held at Burslem Park on Friday, 1 November – the Mexican Day of the Dead. 

The Burslem Picnic is the third in a series of events called Picnic that celebrate park life in the city. Picnics are part of the Appetite programme which has created and presented events in the parks of Stoke-on-Trent. 

An exploration of the park, past, present and future will be told through sounds and stories at the Picnic event on Friday, 1 November. The fun starts with a lantern light procession at 5.30pm. 

Families will have the chance to get creative in the lead-up to the event with making sessions being held in the park between 12 noon and 4pm on 19 October, 26 and 27 October, 29 and 30 October. Visitors will be shown how to create lanterns which will feature in a procession at the Picnic on 1 November. 

The event coincides with the Mexican Day of the Dead during which families and friends gather together to remember people who have died. 

The Day of the Dead theme will feature at the Picnic, while visitors will be encouraged to come together for a community celebration of the park’s role in the local community. 

Entertainment will be provided by Mr Jolly and his Topsy-Turvy Band of Time Travelling Tunesmiths and sound artist, Dan Fox will create a digital soundscape for the lantern procession. 

Appetite programme partner B Arts is organising the Burslem Picnic following similar events in Longton and Tunstall parks this summer. 

Hilary Hughes of B Art said: “Put on your warm clothes and come along to witness a river of light as the lantern procession weaves through the park. 

“The pre-event workshops are a chance to create art to be shown off at the Picnic. Stoke-on-Trent’s parks are among the best examples of large community spaces and we want people to come along and celebrate them.” 

ENDS

For further information contact Hilary Hughes at B Arts on 01782 717326  or go to www.b-arts.org.uk 

Notes to Editors: 
Appetite is the Creative People and Places programme taking place in Stoke-on-Trent from 2013 to 2016. Appetite aims to get more people in Stoke-on-Trent to experience and be inspired by the arts. This investment in the arts and cultural sector of the area aims to mobilise and strengthen the skills, knowledge and infrastructure that already exists within the area and provide unprecedented opportunities for more people to see, make and influence more art in the city.   

The Appetite programme is funded by Arts Council England and is led by the New Vic Theatre in partnership with B Arts, Brighter Futures, Partners in Creative Learning and Staffordshire University. It is supported by Stoke-on-Trent City Council.
 
For further information on Appetite contact Karl Greenwood, Project Director. Telephone 01782 381373 (ext 310) or email [email protected]

Visit the Appetite website at www.appetitestoke.co.uk