The 2019 Cally Festival was another brilliant day: shows we are a community that’s pulling together

Paul, Sara and Una

The ninth annual Cally Festival on Sunday 23rd June was another brilliant day in the life of our neighbourhood.

Between noon and 6pm, we closed the road between Cally Pool and Offord Road and filled it up with 10,000 people.

There was a fabulous music offering on 3 stages – especially the very successful Copenhagen Youth Project stage showcasing aspirational local talent. We had great organisations like the Institute of Physics on science and discovery; there was a traditional funfair; a massive and varied food offering, a market place and big range of sports and fitness activities … with special thanks to Times Boxing Club.

As the Festival began, car-free Cally began to fill-up

Scores of volunteers helped to make the Festival run like clockwork.

Naturally, we had a load of artsy stuff, great children’s contributions featuring the poems, stories and a song zone with our local schools … also featuring the sensational John Hegley and Paul Lyell.

Every year the Cally Festival has a tremendous vibe. And at about 4.15pm there was a colossal sound as a samba band carnival-style paraded through the Festival site to the main stage where Paul Convery introduced the two other Cally councillors and the Leader of the Council and Mayor of Islington addressed the crowds … (briefly!).

Cllr Richard Watts endorsed Paul’s observation that, despite a challenging year of ups and downs in the Cally, the Festival demonstrates we’re a community that’s pulling together to make Cally a great place to live and work.

Next year’s Festival is pencilled-in for June 21st 2020. It will be a landmark 10th anniversary event and all the stops will be pulled-out to make it the best ever.