A MUSIC and food festival will take place in Andover this summer - following support from the town council. 

A "mini version" of Jerk Jam - a music and Caribbean food inspired festival which has recently been held in Southampton - will take place in the town. 

The free-to-attend event, which is planned to take place on Saturday, August 31 in Vigo Park, was given the backing by Andover Town Council during a meeting on Wednesday, May 26.

During the meeting, a vote to decide whether or not the council will collaborate with organisers and provide funding for the event was put forward.

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(Image: Jerk Jam) The full costs are estimated by organisers from Illusion Events and Jerk Jam Events to be in the range of £20,000-£25,000.

Organisers will provide half of the funding, and following a vote, the council unanimously agreed to pay £10,500 towards the cost of the festival.

Residents can expect a "mini version" of the Jerk Jam festival which took place on three stages in Southampton to be held in Vigo Park on one large stage.

The event will take approximately one to two days to assemble and dismantle, with a "conservative estimate" of approximately 4,500 to attend.

Will Constance, head of Illusion Events, spoke at the meeting to outline his ideas and give reasons for holding the event.

He said: "I'm trying to bring something to Andover which is specifically for the age ranges of 16 to 30, young families, for free.

"It's got music, stilt walkers, entertainers, fire performers, a dedicated area for young children, [and] it's going to be fully fenced off so it's secure. There is going to be a welfare office... and it's going to be a one-in-one-out system.

"You get a wristband upon entry and you go in there and get to enjoy yourself, [it is] absolutely free and it's up to you whether you want to buy any drinks, buy food or whatever, enjoy a live music festival, have fun, come and go as you please, and it starts at 11am and there will be a hard stop at 9.30pm so it shouldn't impede on any noise issues."

Will went on to explain his motivations for holding the festival, which is targeted towards younger residents.

He said: "The whole point of this is for the inner suburbs of Andover to come to something that isn't a gardening fair or an artisan market, something that the 16 to 25 to 30-year-old age range wouldn't want to necessarily go to.

"This is an actual festival that they would want to go to that's free and right at the end of the summer holidays because they've spent all their money in the summer holidays, they want something to do and they don't necessarily want to go away - why not have something like this on the doorstep?"

Speaking about the meeting, the town clerk, Gail Foster, said: "It was a successful meeting attended by more of the public than we are used to, which was very helpful in allowing councillors to gauge some of the residents’ feedback to the proposal.

"Councillors were diligent in robustly questioning the event organisers and having voted unanimously in support of hosting the first Jerk Jam in Andover, the Council is excited to begin preparations with Illusion Events Ltd and Jerk Jam Events Ltd."