First it was Kemptown Carnival, now another beloved Brighton event has been cancelled for this Summer. Held at Queen’s Park, Bark In The Park is an annual day of dog-tastic fun – which has been temporarily shelved.
Along with Picnic in the Park, the event has been cancelled from the summer schedule because Friends of Queen’s Park voted against hosting the gatherings this year.
The money used to host the events will instead go towards recruiting volunteers and maintaining the park in future – actions which are all the more important in light of council cuts. When these cuts are made, the Friends will be given a greater say on how the park should be managed, used, and preserved.
Chris Lowe, who has been a committee member of the Friends of Queen’s Park for ten years, said: “The events that we put on raise money for the park but they take a huge amount of effort and energy – for months it’s our focus.
“We decided we needed to take a rest and examine some of the issues surrounding the maintenance of the park.
“In the community, we need to make people more aware and also not undermine the seriousness of what’s going on.”
He added: “It’s very regrettable in many ways that we’ve had to cancel the events for this year.
“But we want this to be a wake-up call to the whole community.
“We can’t keep carrying on having parties when there’s a crisis around the corner.”
However, Friends of Queens Park insist the events will both return “bigger and better” for 2018, so watch this space.
The Friends are also hosting a clean-up event this Sunday, so if you have some time to spare this Sunny weekend, why not lend a hand?
Featured image by Simon Dack
