Family fun day out with ethical shopping, craft workshops and live music at The Plastic Free Festival in Chesterfield

The Plastic Free Festival will run in the marketplace at New Square on Sunday, June 12, from 10am to 4pm, following a successful debut in the town last year.

Stallholders will sell products that encourage a plastic-free lifestyle, there will be craft workshops for upcycling and recycling, food and drink, and live music performances.

Pride of Britain and Queen’s Honours award winners Amy and Ella Meek of Kids Against Plastic will be speaking at the festival. Since founding their youth-led organisation back in 2016, the girls have worked hard to inspire kids and adults alike to take action to reduce their use of single-use plastics – or become ‘Plastic Clever’ as they call it. Their Plastic Clever scheme has since been adopted by more than1300 schools, as well as by cafes, businesses, councils and festivals around the UK.

Attendees at the festival can shop from businesses such as Chesterfield's Steph's Sustainable Stuff, Mrs Greens Eco Store and SallycinnamonCo who sells reusable eye make-up scrubbies.

Craft recycling workshops will give participants the opportunity to create festival masks, willow tension trays, and items from natural found materials.

Businesses on the marketplace will be joined by Transition Chesterfield, who run the Chesterfield Repair Cafe, and Angela Blair, a local TerraCycle collector who aims to help people repurpose hard-to-recycle items.

Local food and drink businesses will be on hand to inject some flavour into the festival, with the Asian Association of Chesterfield selling Indian food, B'reydt Dough selling pizza and Sammys Mexican Mare selling burritos.

Live performances from entertainers are also on the agenda, with local favourites Mark Morgan-Hill, Jig for a Kiss, Chesterfield Garland Dancers and The Suffrajetz headlining the end of the festival.

No single-use plastics will be given out at the event, with residents and visitors encouraged to bring their own reusable bags, cups and containers.

Greg Hewitt, who chairs The Plastic Free Festival committee, said: “We're delighted to bring back The Plastic Free Festival for a second year, with a much bigger marketplace and special guests Kids Against Plastic. It's going to be a fantastic family fun day out with something for everyone."