Organisers of a popular three-day festival that celebrates life around a Shropshire waterway have announced plans to take a year out.
The Shrewsbury & Newport Canals Trust has had to cancel this year’s Norbury Canal Festival, which would have been held over the May Day Bank Holiday, after being unable to secure land for visitor parking.
The trust has said the event will return in 2018 after confirming suitable parking arrangements for next year.
Hundreds of people attend the annual event at Norbury Junction on the Shropshire Union Canal between Newport and Stafford.
Entertainment includes boat trips, a vintage car rally, live music, traditional craft and food stalls in the garden of the Norbury Junction Inn as well as other activities around Norbury Wharf and in the Canal & River Trust yard.
Trust Chairman Bernie Jones said: “We are deeply disappointed to have had to cancel this year’s festival but it has proved impossible to organise suitable visitor parking this year.
“After being advised that the field we used last year was not available, considerable efforts were made by the organising team to find alternative parking but without success.
“We have identified a solution that we can put in place for 2018, but this will not be possible this year as the field in question is committed to agricultural use for the period when it would be needed.
“Everyone who had already booked, including all boaters and stallholders, has been advised of the situation. We appreciate our regular visitors will be disappointed but we look forward to welcoming them back in 2018.”
The festival will return on May 5, 6 and 7 next year.
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