In pictures: Maidenhead Cheese & Chilli Festival

The organiser of the first Cheese & Chilli Festival in Maidenhead has criticised the council after he was left disappointed with the turnout for the new event.

Footfall for the event in Town Moor was low despite good weather, a ‘great venue’, stalls for every taste, attractions for the children, live entertainment and ‘fantastic feedback’.

Simon Stewart, who organises similar events in six other towns, said. “The footfall we got over two days was something we normally have over one day. We lost money in the end.”

Simon said the event was advertised in local publications, including the Advertiser, through leaflet drops and social media but it needed to be visible in the town.

“One of the key elements to making people aware of the show is external signage and Maidenhead is probably the only town we’ve worked with where we couldn’t put any signage up around the town and it was frustrating,” he said.

“On one hand we’ve got the council supporting the event by letting us have the ground but then we’ve got other agencies in the council making it really hard for us to promote the event.”

For Simon cheese and chilli are his ‘two favourite things in the world’ and the inaugural festival was held in Christchurch in 2014.

It took place for the first time in Maidenhead at North Town Moor on Saturday and Sunday.

“The events up to this point have been really popular” said Simon.

“We’ve gone into towns we’ve had associations with and we tried for some time to get into Windsor and Maidenhead.”

 “The event was great in that the venue was great, the people that attended loved the show – we had some fantastic feedback,” he added.

“We hope to bring the event to Maidenhead again next year and if we do, we hope to be able to work with the council and other local agencies to help promote the event better.”

A council spokeswoman said: “We are always keen to support events across the borough and work closely with event organisers to arrange appropriate signage and advertising that complies with our guidelines.

“In this case we approved an application for directional signage to the event and we provided advertising space in our resident magazine. Event organisers are also encouraged to use other advertising routes including paid for advertising.”

On both days of the festival two events which drew a crowd were the chilli eating competition and the Man V Food challenge.

For the chilli eating contest participants sat down to eat a number of chillies that increased in heat up the Scoville scale – a measurement of the pungency of chilli.

Contestants were out of the running if they vomited, or in desperation reached for their cup of cool milk.

The Man V Food Challenge saw contestants eat a ‘bagel of doom’ a delicacy conjured up by a chef well-known in the chilli industry – Chilli Olly.

In addition to the two challenges there was live music, plenty of food and drink and seating so visitors could relax and enjoy it.

There were also lots of cheese, chilli sauces, and sweet treats to be taken home.