A free ‘Party in the Castle’ community event in Knaresborough Castle grounds on Saturday has been hailed a huge success. Friends and family groups of all ages relaxed and played in glorious sunshine whilst waiting in anticipation for the main event – a screening of the iconic Glastonbury Festival.
As the mellow strains of Lewis Capaldi were replaced with an energetic set from Lizzo, the party really began to get started, building up to an electric finale from Rock legends Guns N’ Roses.
Organised by volunteers from Knaresborough & District Chamber, the ‘Party in the Castle’ not for profit event was made possible by a generous grant from North Yorkshire Council and community crowdfunding.
Lead organiser Kelly Young of Knaresborough & District Chamber said:
We were bowled over with the level of support both before and during the event and the feedback from the Knaresborough community has been fantastic. There was an amazing atmosphere and the whole place was like a big family party. We feel so privileged to have been given the chance to bring the town together through music, against such a stunning backdrop as Knaresborough Castle. We also hope that the central location of the event, close to many local businesses, will have bought increased consumer spend to our community, as well as making it affordable for everyone to attend on any budget.
We’d like to say thank you to Cllr Hannah Gostlow, North Yorkshire Council, our fantastic local community and to all our Chamber volunteers for pulling together to make a dream a reality. We are also hugely grateful to other community groups such as Revolution for their marshalling support on the night. We couldn’t have done it without you and hopefully we can all party together again soon.
Local residents also took to social media to share their praise:
“Absolutely fantastic day! It was such a sight to see everyone together enjoying life. Thank you so much to the organisers and here’s to many more good times together. Well done to you all.”
“Fantastic evening … such a great idea to provide an affordable evening out for families when budgets are tight. Nice to see all the generations sharing the same space together.”
“Special thanks to all the organisers at last night’s event. A truly amazing event. Lots of hard work and arranging, which was definitely appreciated. Many thanks to all the marshals. Dare I ask PLEASE can we have more.”
“What a fabulous event and well done to the volunteers. There was such a good atmosphere in town.”
“Well done to everyone and how fantastic that the community came together for some fun.”
Photo credit Mike Whorley Photography
