New Accessibility Zone set to open up Keswick Mountain Festival for more outdoor visitors
One of the UK’s best-loved outdoor festivals, the Keswick Mountain Festival will this year feature a new Accessibility Zone, which is being designed to make the festival more accessible and welcoming to visitors with disabilities and adaptive sporting needs.
Keswick Mountain Festival (KMF) will be taking place from 10-12 September and is expected to attracts thousands of visitors to Cumbria. The event will be proving a mix of live entertainment, sporting events, outdoor adventures, high profile speakers, taster activities, exhibitor stands and camping for all of the family.
Organisers have confirmed that the Keswick Mountain Festival Accessibility Zone will be located just inside the Festival Village, on the flattest part of that area, with a ‘Mobiloo’ alongside it and parking for drivers with blue badges nearby.
Disabled visitors and those with adaptive sporting needs will be able to watch the live entertainment on the main stage from a special viewing area (located close to the Mobiloo), and there will also be accessible toilets at the pop-up KMF campsite.
Thanks to support from United Utilities, KMF has been able to invite charities and not-for-profit groups to exhibit in the Accessibility Zone alongside commercial companies.
Joining zone partner Experience Community, organisations that have signed up so far include Adapt-e, Wheels for All, Disability Snowsports UK, British Canoeing (paddleability), Lake District Mobility, ICE Trikes, Mountain Trike and Bendrigg Trust.
The KMF Accessibility Zone will also be the base for some dedicated activities hosted by Experience Community, including a guided walk on Saturday 11 September and an adapted bike ride on Sunday 12 September.
The road sportives and DexShell Hell in the Fells gravel ride are all open to electric and adapted bikes, and organisers of the other sporting events will do what they can to make them as accessible as possible for all those who want to participate. In addition, there will be a test route for trying out vehicles that are being exhibited on the site.
Leading paracyclist and Ordnance Survey ambassador Mel Nicholls has visited Keswick Mountain Festival several times and has taken part in the event’s Back o’ Skiddaw sportive.
Mel comments: “Keswick Mountain Festival is a fabulous weekend of outdoor fun for everyone, with expert support for all to enjoy their chosen outdoor adventures, and some you’d never thought to try. It’s a fantastic event that I recommend for everyone who loves the outdoors and I hope that as many people as possible come along and explore all there is to get out there!”
Nicola Meadley, KMF director, adds: “We want Keswick Mountain Festival to be a welcoming and vibrant hub for all outdoor enthusiasts and especially those with disabilities and adaptive sporting needs. Experience Community, Adapt-e and ICE Trikes all attended in 2019 and the idea for the KMF Accessibility Zone was born then.
“With support from United Utilities, we have been able to develop it into what will be one of the most exciting new elements at the festival, but this is just the start.
“We won’t achieve everything in year one and we will definitely learn a lot in September, but I’m equally certain that we will deliver a really positive experience for visitors who spend time in the zone.”
Tickets for the 2021 Keswick Mountain Festival are available on its website.