Congratulations to the Doyle family for winning ‘The People’s Vote’ for BorthFest’s scarecrow event.

The entry was one of many scattered around Borth on Bank Holiday weekend for the village’s first-ever arts festival.

BorthFest ran from 24-27 May with a variety of events including art workshops, live music, debate, a craft fair, and a Hero/Heroine-themed scarecrow competition.

The scarecrow competition was organised by Bortharts, an artist led co-operative.

The aim of the festival was to bring the many creative groups in Borth together.

Another example of this is the work Borth artist Martine Ormerod pioneers with older members of the community at the hub. This resulted in a great exhibition of work inspired by ‘Chairs’ at Star of the Sea.

Libanus hosted ‘From the ground up’, a debate about community arts with, amongst others Ben Irurzun from Interior Design Masters. There was also a Q&A with Welsh director Ed Thomas about ‘Hinterland’ and his new BBC series, ‘Tree on a Hill’.

2 London Place continued expanding its art workshops and events; Welsh food writer Nerys Howell demonstrated recipes from her publication, ‘Harvest’.

Printmaker Stuart Evans taught portrait drawing and the textile artist Jacq Brill demonstrated Sashiko, visilble mending.

“Borth is rich in creatives and very open to expanding on this,” said group spokesperson Sadie.

“Borthfest was about co-creating and showcasing the innovative core of this community. 2024 was a pilot and leant on the generosity of its participants. It is hoped that, with funding, we will be able to develop this very positive happening next year. The aim being to use art to inspire, unite and ultimately bring some joy into the world. We ultimately want BorthFest to spread optimism and connection through the arts.”