Still to sleepy to write much, but this newspaper article sums it up nicely.  We aimed for a family friendly atmosphere - and we achieved it.

Some of the reasons it worked were directly due to things we did like having more activities specifically for children, and some were a serendipitous side effect of other things we did.  For instance, we spaced the stalls out more to leave easy access to any local shops that were opening, but that in turn made it easier for people to move easily around the festival.

We spread the festival out to add two new locations and I think we actually had more people overall, but at a slightly lower density which gave people more breathing space.

We were lucky in some regards.  The recently refurbished square made a lovely dance spot - we put less stalls there and made it a big open dance space and got big audiences there.  Willow Walk, a lovely grassy area by the river, has only been there a couple of years and made a wonderful area for children's stuff.  Loads of people were relaxing there, having a picnic, etc.

Some of the pubs, especially the Albion, got on board with the family friendly aim.  The Albion had free story telling sessions and face-painting and pulled in massive numbers of people over the weekend.  They also hosted one of our new Appalachian dance spots, which soon developed a good audience.

We had some lovely comments from people attending the festival.