An Aberystwyth councillor is “itching” to reboot the town’s popular carnival and Castle Rock festival.

Town Councillor Kerry Ferguson has put out a call for anybody keen to help revive the two well-loved events, as well as any other event ideas the community would like to see happen.

“I’ve been really itching to try and restart the carnival in town for a year or two now, and people always seem keen to see it come back,” Cllr Ferguson said.

“I decided after the election to put up a post on my Facebook page and profile asking for event ideas in the town. Essentially, I wanted to try and figure out what people want, and how I can best help to get those events going with my different hats.

“It quickly became clear that a lot of people wanted to see the Carnival and Castle Rock back in the town – and why not! I know that funding, insurances and feasibility might be an issue but, if we don’t try, we won’t know.

“I’ve since put out a call for anyone interested to get in touch, and I’ve currently got a group 20 strong (more always welcome), specifically to look at organising the Carnival and/or Castle Rock style event for 2023.”

The last Castle Rock Festival was held in 2009, with Cerys Matthews performing, after the last scheduled concert in 2011 was cancelled due to bad weather.

Aberystwyth Carnival returned in 2012, after a hiatus of more than a decade, but was cancelled in 2018 after organiser Wendy Morris moved to Australia. Despite planning to hold it again in 2019, this didn’t materialise and, due to Covid-19, the carnival has not gone ahead since.

Cllr Ferguson continued: “I have had a few negative comments, asking why certain organisations in town aren’t organising these events – to be honest, I’m past that.

“We need to work together as a community to get events like these organised, otherwise we’ll be in the same position of pointing fingers in another 5 years.

“There were a lot of amazing event ideas posted when I asked, and I will be looking for more help to set up other ‘working groups’ – so if you are interested in seeing more events in Aberystwyth, please do get in touch with me.

“I’ve already got meetings set up with some keen residents and businesses in town over the coming weeks to see how I can facilitate new ideas and events – I think we can say that if not in 2022, there will be some very exciting additions to the events calendar in 2023!”

Anybody interested in getting involved, or with any ideas for other events, can contact Cllr Kerry Ferguson on [email protected].