This Sunday The Grove will be closed to mark global Car Free Day which takes place this year on Wednesday 22nd September. Organisers Climate Action Ilkley invite you to experience what Ilkley could be like with fewer cars. Come along for a festival of music, cycling, food, fun and no cars. There’ll be something for all the family, from electric and e-cargo bikes, activities for younger visitors, right through to music that will get your feet moving. There will be two musical stages, one at the bandstand and an acoustic stage next to Cafe J. Free Trade Ilkley, Ilkley in Bloom and other supportive community groups will be taking part, plus they’ll be a display of circus skills. Bring your bike, roller skates, skateboard, inline skates, hula hoops, deckchairs, hammocks, picnic blankets, outdoor games, juggling balls, diablo sets, whistles, drums, saucepans, mannequins and imagination... let's make a hullabaloo and have some fun on the Grove together.
Ilkley’s new band, The Finishers, will be part of the Bandstand line up. performing covers such as Valerie, Sit Down and Teenage Kicks, their set starts at 3pm. Earlier at 1pm the Bring Me Sunshine Trio will be singing, The full line up is still being tweaked.
The Car Free Festival is taking place during the national Great Big Green Week organised by the Climate Coalition. The festival will also mark the beginning of Climate Action Ilkley’s events for the build up to COP26, taking place in Glasgow in November. This includes a talk by Tim Benton on Monday 27th September at the Clarke Foley Centre (find it on Eventbrite), followed by a talk by John Marsham in October. A series of Earth Vigils are also being organised. More will be revealed at the Festival. A spokesperson for Climate Action Ilkley said: “We invite you all to join us to celebrate our capacity to imagine all the possibilities open to us to fashion a future without fossil fuels - and we can have some fun too! We can spend some time talking together about what really matters, what kind of ancestors we want to be and what a responsible stance toward the climate emergency should look like. And we can have some fun too! Ilkley Town Council has already declared a climate emergency. We want to encourage action on these words - now is the time and we are the people. Climate change and the climate emergency can look and feel bleak when we consider the enormity of the challenges we face. However, when we focus on our surroundings, on our local community and on the power of collaboration we can gleefully embrace the exciting opportunities available to us to make Ilkley a greener and greater town.” “Please join us to create an exciting and memorable Car Free Festival for the whole community.” The Grove will be closed from Brook Street to St James Road from 9am until 5, with the festival starting at 11am and running through to 4pm.