West Park to host £40,000 Wolverhampton Festival

Councillor Malcolm Gwinnett is behind the event, called Wolverhampton Festival, which he says is in answer to the annual City Show becoming 'a bit of a disaster'.

For the first time in its four-decade history, the City Show moved from West Park this year. Its relocation to Wolverhampton Racecourse saw just 4,712 people attend – down from 18,000 visitors the previous year. Council chiefs today said they have not yet made a decision on next year's City Show.

But speaking about the new event, Councillor Gwinnett, who represents Spring Vale, said: "This will be a completely new event on the same summer dates but it will be called Wolverhampton Festival.

"It has come about because the City Show was a bit of a disaster. I didn't think it would work at the racecourse, it is a different event to the bonfire, which did work.

"We are in discussions with a lot of people at the moment. We have made quite a few inquiries and have quite a few things we want to bring back. We want more live entertainment than arena entertainment."

Councillor Gwinnett added he would like the event to have a circus and he hopes to work with organisations such as Central Youth Theatre to do live performances.

The event will be held on July 9 and 10 and cost £40,000 to stage. There will be an entry charge of a few pounds.

"I am looking forward to it because West Park is a home of Wolverhampton events and to take it out of there I personally think it was wrong and I did raise concerns at the time that I didn't think it would work at the racecourse," he said.

Talks were held over the future of the City Show after the low turnout this year, when the show was moved for the first time in its 43-year history. At its peak, it used to attract crowds of 80,000.

This year's event saw prices almost double, with entry at £5 for adults and £4 for children and a £3 parking fee introduced.

But council bosses have said they are still in discussions and reviewing options for its events programme.