Shakespeare's Celebrations cupcakes get the thumbs up from town centre shops

Feedback from the 27 town centre shops that participated in the Shakespeare's Celebrations cupcakes scheme is revealing general support for carrying the Shakespeare's Birthday celebrations cupcake trail forward to next year's event (25 April 2015).


The scheme was piloted this year by Stratforward, Stratford-upon-Avon Town Council and Stratford-on-Avon District Council using cash from Warwickshire County Council's Operation Footfall fund. Feeding back on their experience, most of the 27 shops that participated are supporting the idea of making it a recurring theme for future years. Six of these shops have also expressed an interest in sponsoring it next year.

The project was specifically designed to divert footfall from the Celebrations into town centre shops by a variety of means.

Retail businesses were asked to display a Shakespearean character in their window on the day of the procession, hand out activity sheets to their customers and reward them with a cupcake for matching ten characters with the shops. Blackman's Bakery of Avenue Farm industrial Estate supplied 1,250 cupcakes and Special Days in Ely Street supplied black and gold balloons to fly outside participating shops.

Last week, judging from photographs taken of the Shop window displays, The Mayor of Stratford-upon-Avon Town Council, Cllr Diane Walden awarded the winning certificate and presented it last week to Beth Kendall, proprietor of Elizabeth's Flowers in Town Square.

Cllr Diane Walden, said: “Stratford's retail businesses seized this opportunity with enthusiasm and flair. The variety of characters and interpretations of the theme created a new dimension and extra vibrancy to this year's Celebrations that I hope we can build on for the future. With so much imagination and flair on show, selecting a winner was no easy task and Beth Kendall's interpretation of Beatrice from 'Much Ado About Nothing' was first class." 

Receiving the award, Ms Kendall said: “I've enjoyed taking part and am naturally delighted to have won this award. I'd like to see the Shakespeare's Birthday Celebrations carry the momentum from this year's event forward and find more ways to involve local business and families."

Stratford College staff and students created 850 more cupcakes and set up their bespoke cupcake stand in Henley Street to draw young people with their families from the procession back into town to claim their free cupcake and spend more of their time in the vicinity of shops.

Anyone attending the event would not have missed the enormous cake which led the project and the procession which is being hailed as a great success. It came in the form of a flamboyant 2.7m wide 2 tier horse drawn model cake which had been decorated by local children through Escape Community Arts workshops. A sponsor will be sought to pay for its redecoration and transportation next year and it is hoped that it will become a regular feature in years to come.

Speaking for Stratforward, its Chairman, Maria Waters, said: “This is the sort of project where everyone taking part comes up trumps and I'm delighted that so many businesses want to get involved and carry something similar forward for next year."

Speaking for Stratford-on-Avon District Council, Dave Webb, Head of Enterprise, Housing and Revenues said: “This is a great example of how public money can be used to pilot and test schemes designed to benefit local business. Using lessons learnt from this year, we are hoping that more town centre shops will team up to fine tune this initiative and maximise the potential benefits from Shakespeare's Birthday Celebrations whilst adding to the festive atmosphere."