INTERVIEW
THRIFTFEST UPCYCLED
CLAIRE VENUS DISCOVERS HOW THE ANNUAL CELEBRATION OF SUSTAINABLE LIVING HAS BEEN REPURPOSED AS AN ONLINE FESTIVAL
The annual Festival of Thrift usually takes place in Kirkleatham, Redcar and offers a range of brilliant experiences to get us thinking about sustainability. While a physical festival isn’t on the cards this year, in true thrifty fashion the organisers have repurposed and upcycled the event into an online celebration, taking place on Saturday 12th September. This year’s theme is ‘energy’, and despite operating on a muchreduced budget with considerable challenges, the festival promises heaps of vibrant thrifty fun. I caught up with festival director Stella Hall who explains how she’s been managing her team and bringing the event together despite the restrictions of COVID-19. “The Festival of Thrift team are all freelance and we are working together from Edinburgh down to Saltburn and also calling in via Zoom from as far away as New Zealand. It’s our hope that the spirit of thrift can be replicated in multiple places simultaneously and we
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are looking forward to seeing the ripple effect through different people in their communities.” We talked about how COVID-19 had given us renewed energy to grow veggies, chat more with neighbours and embed in our communities in new ways; for lots of us, our commuting time was cut to mere minutes as we walked into a different room to switch on our laptops, and it’s this shift in our lives that has provided inspiration for the festival. The line-up is as creative as ever, with something for everyone, and is designed to make us slow down and think about our impact on the planet and how we use our time here. Visitors are encouraged to ‘Thrift Your Place’ on the run-up to the festival, using activity packs and fun-filled ideas to inspire all ages, available to download from the website. Highlights of the programme include Diane Watson’s Garden of the
