richardfrosty – Richard Frost – Manchester

Last month, I did a round-up of all the festivals in Chorlton.

This month, I thought I’d broaden my horizons and try a festival further afield. Well, I say further afield, it was only Sale. And not even proper Sale, but the Jackson’s Boat pub on the banks of the River Mersey, only a 20-minute walk from the centre of Chorlton.

Bicycle Village 2013

The festival in question was Bicycle Village, which took place on Saturday, 11 May 2013. Now Bicycle Village is a free annual event organised by Arek Bartnickaz, founder of the Bike Barn – an independent Manchester bike shop nestled right next to the Jackson’s Boat pub. And if you haven’t guessed already, cycling very much takes centre stage.

Just like last year, the 2013 Bicycle Village festival had a variety of things going on in the spacious beer garden of the Jackson’s Boat pub – cycling stalls, live bands, a bicycle jumble, quirky bikes, face painting and a charity auction of refurbished bikes to raise money for Simply Cycling and the Children’s Adventure Farm Trust. I particularly enjoyed making my own smoothie on the pedal-powered smoothie makers over at the Manchester Friends of the Earth stall.

It’s not a big event by any means. But it’s a good excuse to walk over to Jackson’s Boat, which for my money is one of the best pubs in south Manchester. Here’s hoping Arek Bartnickaz and the Bike Barn decide to organise another Bicycle Village in May 2014.

Bike festival photos

I’ll leave you with a few photos I took at the 2013 Bicycle Village festival in Sale: