People flock to enjoy Stafford's Q in the Park festival
There was plenty of socially-distanced fun as a popular family festival returned for its ninth year.
Despite an ongoing pandemic, the show still went on at a family-friendly festival in a Staffordshire town.
The ninth instalment of Q in the Park was held at Stafford’s Market Square in the town centre on Sunday.
The usual location is Victoria Park but the organisers, Stafford Borough Council, had to switch the venue as the park is currently being revamped.
This time social distancing measures were place, due to the ongoing threat of Covid-19, which included collecting people’s information for track and trace and enforcing the use of face masks among those.
An array of entertainment was provided, which included: a line up of live music including performances by local groups The Ezys and Neil Mason; a Pretenders tribute, Phoenix of Stone and My Stage Academy. There were also fairground rides and mascots including Paw Patrol and North Staffs Stormtroopers – which is a charitable organisation based in Stoke.
Ahead of the event, Lorraine Conkey, an organiser, said: “Every year around 4,000 people headed to V Festival from Stafford train station, so in 2011 Q in the Park was run to provide a day of entertainment for them.
“After the success of 2011’s event, entertaining over 3,000 festival-goers heading to V we than morphed into a weekend event for the local community as the V Festival decreased and Q has now become a fantastic family event over the last nine years.
"We have worked with Staffordshire Police, fire service and Stafford Borough Council to bring a Covid-secure environment on the day so we can all enjoy the event but safely.”
