Why an Eastern Festival in Evesham?
In April 1998, Evesham was devastated by major flooding. Waterside, which contains many of Evesham's eastern restaurants and businesses, was one the hardest of all the streets hit by the high water. 17 feet above normal levels. It would have been very easy for those business to walk away from Evesham at that time of devastation. Not so, those businesses and the multi cultural community, worked hard to rebuild and restore the area. Today, restaurants like Rilys have reopened and expanded. Others have come to Evesham as a result.
Wychavon District Council, as a thank you to those Evesham business people, who worked so hard to get up and running again, came up with the eastern festival weekend. This year was the 4th festival and it is bigger and more inclusive than ever before. Many people come from far and wide to enjoy the eastern culture and each year more and more people have stalls, which feed us, educate us, entertain us and of course sell us things we simply can't do without :-)
Long may it continue