Ely Eel Festival 2015

Ely is the place to be this May to celebrate the life and times of the humble little eel.

The Eel Festival is back from Friday 1 May until Monday 4 May with all the usual fun activities taking place.

It all begins with City Centre Business Eel Throwing Competition on the Market Place on Friday 1 May. City Centre retailers and businesses will battle it out to be crowned ‘City Centre Eel Throwing Business of the Year’ sponsored by the Ely News. The stuff socked eel title is currently held by Whizzle.

On the Saturday – the action begins with the Eel procession starting at 10.30am, the parade led by a giant eel, Ely’s Samba Band and Town Criers will start from Cross Green next to the Cathedral and head along part of the City’s Eel Trail Heritage Walk, down to the Waterside ending in the Jubilee Gardens.

In the gardens there will be folk music, a Town Crier competition, dancing, historical displays, the World Eel Throwing Competition, basket weaving and tanks of real eels brought by the Environment Agency.

Returning from last year will also be:

*       An Eel Food Safari which will see restaurants and cafés producing special festival dishes/menus such as eel shaped biscuits, jelly eel fudge and moj-eel-tas cocktail. Participating venues will display an Eel Food Safari logo to show they are part of the promotion throughout the weekend.
*       Food and Drink Festival (3/4 May) on Palace Green. The event supported by G’s Fresh will see a fantastic line up of chef demonstrations from stars such as Valentine Warner, Jean-Christophe Novelli and Alex Rushmer

Tracey Harding, Tourism Team Leader at East Cambridgeshire District Council said: “The eel is synonymous with the Isle of Ely ever since the city paid over 80,000 eels to Peterborough for stones to build the cathedral. So it makes sense to us to celebrate the humble eel and its part in our history. Every year, our festival gets bigger and better – so from an event which used to last a day – we now have a four day extravaganza.

“This year’s Festival combines all of the great things from the past decade from the Eel Parade and eel throwing competition to the fantastic eel related activities in Jubilee Gardens as well as the Eel Food Safari and the Food and Drink Festival. With so much to see and do – I am sure the crowds will be huge to celebrate Ely’s culture and traditions.”

For information on all these activities and many other fringe events keep checking out our Eel Festival Weekend page at www.visitely.org.ukand follow us on Twitter @visitely.