The 2017 Potato Pants Festival

Its only a few days to go till the 2017 HSP Support Group AGM, which is on Sat 1st July. You can see details of that here: http://hspgroup.org/index.php/meetings/68-saturday-1st-july-2017-annual-general-meeting-tally-ho-conference-banqueting-centre-pershore-road-birmingham-b5-7rn

This post is, however, about the 2017 Potato Pants Festival, which was on Sat 3rd June. I went there with my family, and it was really good fun. Actually I was there with my extended family as the festival was in the area where my wife's family live, so actually there were a fair few of us there.

The event was organised by Ian Bennett, chair of the Support Group, following various conversations he'd had with others about this. 2017 was the second year of the festival, and it felt like a well organised friendly affair. My kids spent most of the afternoon on the bouncy castles, whilst the rest of us sat on the grass listening to the music and having a good look around. The bands were playing in a big tent and there were plenty of people listening and then dancing.

During the changeover between the bands there were the now infamous potato pants races, where up to six people put on specially made trousers, loaded up with 10 potatoes down each leg. The race was a simple "run to that crate and back again" race, so a distance of about 50m. Why? The concept comes from a discussion Lori Renna Linton had with her daughter. You can watch her story in one of the links below. This conversation set off a chain of activities, and the potato pants festival is a descendant of this idea!

At the festival there were also a few stalls selling things, a bar, an ice cream stall, a hot dog/burger outlet, a few other games and events for people to take part in, and people were also free to roam around the farm.

I thought that the event was great. The music was really good, all the people were really friendly, and its a really nice way of raising awareness about HSP.

Of course, its not just about the fun, the event was to raise money, so there were lots of volunteers helping on the day, and I hope to find out at the AGM how much was raised for the charity. I'm looking forward to next year!

Some links about the festival:
Review 1: http://www.gigsandbands.com/potato-pants-festival-2017-review/ (with loads of pics)
Music 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cEHhorCYeM8&t=16s
Music 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-LH187HkZIc&t=1s

The original potato pants story: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56XdjtrpZlo&amp

The first event: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K80Q8BnU-V0

Where else the idea is going: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ppJcPnPlpu0