A STREET party is due to take place with live music, food and drinks in the heart of Wotton next summer.

Community leaders from across the town are coming together to organise the event which will take place on Saturday, August 30 next year.

The event - known as The Long Street Summer Social - will take place from 12pm to 8pm across the town’s high street. 

The team behind the project includes local business owners as well as the organisers of Nibley Festival and Wotton Pride plus Wotton Town Council's clerk Andrea Durn.

Also involved in organising includes Fred Hulls and Jeremy McGovern from Good Food Kitchen & Bar, Laurence Kapoor head of events at Stroud Brewery, Ali Lidbetter head of programming at Under The Edge Arts and Chris Jackson from The Edge Coffee.

A launch party - to help raise funds and awareness for the event - is due to take place at Chipping Hall on Saturday, November 9 with DJs, live music and snacks.

Tom Beasley from Nibley Festival said: “The Long Street Summer Social will do wonders for the town of Wotton.

“It’s been great fun to have been part of the warmup gigs taking place in the lead up to the event.

“It’s fantastic to see local businesses collaborating to bring this exciting event to our community, I can’t wait for next summer.”

So far, several funding opportunities for the event have been identified. 

Potential grants include Stroud District Council’s Market Town Vitality Fund, SDC’s Rural England Prosperity Fund, GCC Build Back Better Councillor Scheme and Gloucestershire VCS Alliance. 

Meanwhile, organiser Fred Hulls has already submitted an application to Stroudfunding, a SDC and Spacehive crowdfunding initiative with £100k available for community projects.

“It’s been a joy to experience the overwhelmingly positive response to this idea”, added Hulls. 

“We will no doubt come across potential blocks, as well as those with concerns, but so far the community is fully supporting the event. 

“From individuals offering to donate power for stages and space for storage, events or parking, to businesses offering their time, creativity and resources - even Wotton RFC has committed to providing volunteers on the day. 

“We’ve been blown away by the kindness in this special community and believe The Long Street Summer Social will be the perfect addition to Wotton’s year-round calendar of successful, economy-boosting events.”

Tickets for the launch party next Saturday are £9 and come with a free cocktail.

You can buy tickets for the launch party here - tinyurl.com/h3betscb