Crouch End Festival of Fabulous

The 10th Anniversary of Crouch End Festival in little ol’ N8 passed by in a flurried heartbeat of music, colour, food and engaged community. It was, as always, a testament to the wonderful team of volunteers who work year round to make this happen and this couldn’t happen without the sponsors; one of whom, was Tootoomoo.

TTM were privileged and excited to sponsor schools day and audaciously emblazoned their name above the main stage on 11th June 2016.

Red herrings were placed in over 60 local businesses for the kids and their families to find – always a big success and this year was no exception, bunches of kids huddled over their paperwork, whispering conspiratorially.

The captain of the Tootoomoo vessel stood up among the other N8 figureheads who all waxed lyrical about the close knit wonderfulness that is this community before declaring the festival open.

A fiesta of multi-talented, multi-national and a variety of brilliance rocked the streets for 10 wild and carefree days. From staggering Zombies, to the Pink Ladies singing along to the Al Fresco showing of cult movie,Grease. The Town Hall was on full throttle with exhibitions, footie showings, food, music and yoga.

The open air fair with crafts and some of the great foodies of our enclave nailed the first weekend – our TTM girls took palates of pan Asian morsels freshly made and totally free in to the throng of the bustle – locals and visitors alike virtually inhaled our healthy offerings, kids rushed over for fortune cookies and wristbands, vegetarians ooh-ed over our veggie rolls and veg sushi – folks who’d never ventured up Crouch End Hill were excited to find that we’re a permanent fixture and old chums who hadn’t swung by for a while were reminded that we’re still there and still pretty darned good, except now, we’re beautifully refurbished to rather more chic shophouse than cantina.

The London goes Latin twist that peppered the 10 days was phenomenal, art, dance, music – truly jaw dropping talent brought to us by London goes Latin.

There were boutique shows all over town, Moors Bar and Kiss The Sky Bar figuring highly on the thespian and comedy circuits. There was so much to enjoy.

The unexpected jewel in the festival crown was surely Songworks N8 choirs’ vigil on the final day, paying tribute to two sudden tragedies that affected so many. The Orlando 49, cold bloodily murdered while enjoying a night out at Pulse in Florida and MP, Jo Cox, who was vilely gunned down just days before. The astounding feeling of love and solidarity was summed up right there. Incredible. #LoveWins

TTM loved being part of it and next year, they’ll be even more embroiled; it’s for families, singles, old and young – it covers all bases and tastes – a huge thank you to Chris, Amanda and all their team for orchestrating another amazing celebration of all that is positive and talented about Crouch End. It rocked.