Warwick Rotary Club was delighted with the weather on Saturday for the start of last weekend’s 15th Thai festival. The brilliant sunny weather welcomed visitors from all over the country to Warwick Racecourse for the two day festival. Buddhist monks were welcomed by traders giving the traditional gifts of food, before the programme of music and dance started.

Rotary President David Smith, Cllr Neale Murphy, Mayor of Warwick, and the Town Crier welcomed visitors and declared the festival open, before touring over 20 Thai food stalls, including stir-fry ice-cream! There was a massage area, arts, crafts, and clothes for sale, with prayers and blessings by Buddhist Monks adding to the atmosphere. Visitors sat in the sun with their food watching the show of Thai dance and ladyboys, local Muay Thai kick boxers, and enjoying a Singha beer from the sponsors. Little ones were able to enjoy a play area and get their faces painted.

Sunday however was a very different affair, with showers coming in late morning and putting a damper on proceedings. The full programme on stage was able to carry on but visitors took shelter on the grandstands and numbers stayed low.

Magic of Thailand run a number of events around the country throughout the summer and worked with the Rotary club to bring the 2 day festival to Warwick. The Thai festival is now a regular at the racecourse and organiser Rotarian Alan Bailey explained that the event raises funds for local charities and international disasters and is a great opportunity to showcase Warwick to a wider community.

The festival was sponsored by Kia cars, Costco, Singha Beer, and Warwick Castle.
Warwick Racecourse organised the ticketing and opened its facilities, with staff assisting organisers throughout the weekend. CJ Events provided the stalls, the 2nd Warwick Sea Scouts helped park all the cars for 2 days, Warwick Ambulance and Warwick Lions were in attendance. Andre Klein manager at the racecourse said they were pleased to support the community in this way.

Photographs by Paul Equine