Dust off your Stetsons, American Independence Day fever is coming to Stow-on-the-Wold.
Yee-ha! Stow Cotswold Festival is set to mark American Independence Day in style. The biennial family event will have a distinct US flavour on Saturday, July 4, with candy floss, hamburgers and Stetsons, as Union Flags proudly fly beside Stars and Stripes – but still celebrate all things Stow and Cotswolds.
Stow is highlighting a unique friendship link with Appomattox, USA. The Cotswolds town saw the English Civil War’s last major skirmish at which Parliamentarians routed Royalists at the 1646 Battle of Stow. Appomattox witnessed The Battle of Appomattox Court House, one of the American Civil War’s final clashes in 1865. Stow and District Civic Society built up the link and will co-ordinate a display, including art, maps and letters from the two primary schools, and stories from locals with American ties.
Another major festival highlight will be a mass ‘Sewing Bee’ to create the first-ever community quilt. Visitors and locals can sponsor or contribute hexagons to the ambitious patchwork, destined as a gift for Appomattox.
USA vehicles are revving up for display and rides. Other attractions include market stalls, crafts and games, along with children’s fancy dress, a carousel, face painters, giant snakes and ladders, a roaming Magic Man, and a best-dressed dog contest. There will also be town treasure hunts and a community competition. Music comes from live bands, and a square dance rounds off the day.
As a curtain-raiser to the event and to mark the theme of US freedom, The Military Wives Choir, Brize Norton, performs on Friday, July 3 at 7.30pm in St Edward’s Church, under the banner ‘Music at Stow’. On the same evening, Stow Primary School also hosts its Summer Fete.
The festival is supporting four main charities: The Sam Pilcher Trust; Springboard Children’s Centre; Stow Disability Association; and the Sue Ryder Leckhampton Court Hospice, Cheltenham.
For more about Stow Cotswold Festival, visit: www.stowcotswoldfestival.com
