This year’s Great Yarmouth Maritime Festival has been credited by its organisers as the biggest and best ever, with glorious weather and crowds of up to 50,000 visitors.

Huge crowds from far and wide turned out to celebrate Great Yarmouth’s rich Maritime Heritage and they were not disappointed with an larger festival site, spectacular vessels and superb attractions, entertainment, craft stalls, demonstrators, artists and exhibitors.  The festival introduced new features such as cooking demonstrations in the Galley and the heritage quarter, all of which were fantastically received with very positive feedback.

It was an emotional time also, as the 8th annual Maritime Festival could be the last time that we see the Grand Turk at the event.  She is a spectacular ship, who has so much prominence at the festival.  Captain Ian MacDougal, his crew and the Grand Turk will be sorely missed.  Good news is, that if the Grand Turk is not sold, she will be sailing into Great Yarmouth’s South Quay for the 9th Annual Maritime Festival.

The eighth annual festival was an enormous success, attracting crowds larger than the festival’s previous seven years and visitors to the Town Hall were up 16% on last year.

The glorious weather shone throughout the weekend and the festival atmosphere was truly exhilarating with so many happy friendly faces.

Mayor of Great Yarmouth – His Worship Councillor Paul Garrod, said ‘This is a fabulous event and I am very proud to be involved in my role as mayor. The festival was very well organised, I never realised how much work went into the event from Aileen and her committee.  Waving goodbye to the Grand Turk was very emotional as she is such a prominent part of the Maritime Festival. It was great to see so many people there.’

Captain Ian McDougall – Grand Turk, said ‘This was an absolutely fantastic weekend, as well as an emotional one, as this could possibly be the last time that the Grand Turk attends the event.  Increasing the size of the festival site made a huge difference, allowing the public to move more freely. There was a superb atmosphere at the event with great weather and an excellent quality of acts and entertainers. A wonderful weekend, organised by Aileen Mobbs and her committee and the Grand Turk would love to return to next year’s festival, if she is not sold in the meantime.’

Aileen Mobbs – Chairman of Maritime Festival, said ‘This year’s festival weekend has been a tremendous success, having the extra space definitely helped which was positively received and we have received some very positive feedback from visitors, stall holders, vessels, caterers and entertainers alike. The good weather definitely helped, encouraging visitors to return for the second day of the festival and the friendly, happy atmosphere of the festival was truly magical.

Alan Carr – Chief Executive of the Greater Yarmouth Tourist Authority, said ’we estimate that visitor numbers reached the 50,000 mark this year, drawing our biggest crowds ever. People travelled from far and wide to the festival which is great for tourism, with visitors staying in the Borough specifically for the festival. We are already working on the 2008 event and we are happy to listen to new ideas. Thanks should also go to the dedicated team that organise the festival, who are largely volunteers.

Nicola Gibson – Marketing and Promotions Manager for Great Yarmouth Tourism, said ‘We hoped that this year’s festival would be the biggest and best ever and the 8th annual Maritime Festival certainly delivered that. It will be hard to top the success of this year’s festival, but the Committee will be sure to pull out all the stops for the 9th annual festival. These events are so important to us in strengthening the events programme within the local area and building Great Yarmouth’s reputation as a ‘Festival’ destination.’

Plans for next year’s Maritime Festival are already in progress and will be held on Saturday 6 and Sunday 7 September 2008.

For further information please contact:  Nicola Gibson – Marketing and Promotions Manager for Great Yarmouth Tourism. Tel: 01493 846340; Fax: 01493 858588; E-mail: nmg@great-yarmouth.gov.uk