Glastonbury- The Festival With a Big Social Heart?

This weekend, around 135,000 people will descend on the sleepy west country village of Pilton to attend one of the biggest and most famous festivals in the world: Glastonbury. Rockers of all ages will be donning their wellies and rain macs (or flip flops and shorts, if they’re lucky!) and pitching up their tents on the 900 acre site. Because of its huge size, Glastonbury has taken a lot of care to ensure that their festival is environmentally sustainable, working closely with charities like GreenPeace, as well using recycling, energy and water saving initiatives across the festival. But we wanted to find out more about the festival’s economic sustainability; the efforts they make to feed money back into the local community and the kind of opportunities for small independent businesses it offers.

Inside the festival, there are some great opportunities for small food businesses. At each festival, over 700 producers, makers and food stalls will showcase a range of diverse products to a crowd which, at its busiest, can reach 170,000 people. This means that the festival becomes a unique opportunity for small businesses to really make a name for themselves and radically increase their exposure over a relatively short period of time. What’s more, your average festival go-er is always hungry and thirsty, and can be found walking around aimlessly with pockets full of cash, on the look out for cool items to remind them of their awesome weekend. Because of this, trading at a festival like Glastonbury can be a really attractive prospect for many producers. If you’re interested in finding out about more about being a Glasto trader, the festival have teamed up with Le Rac Shack, who will be blogging about their trader experience at the festival here.

Naturally, this huge increase to the local population over the course of the weekend has both positive and more negative reparations. The festival creates over 1,000 new jobs, increases tourism, and in 2007, reportedly returned £35m of its £73m profits back to the local community, with businesses experiencing around a 56% increase in trade. Local businesses are drafted on site for the festival prep too, with Glasto spending £6m in 2007 employing local businesses. The festival also estimates that around £400,000 will be spent on local accommodation (for those who want to remain mud-free over the weekend) and just over £500,000 will be spent on fuel (for making that quick getaway back to work on the Monday morning). While increases in pollution and excess noise can drive residents up the wall, the festival bosses have worked with the local community to make sure that the festival has a positive impact not just over the weekend, but over the course of the year, too. Since 2000, Glasto has donated over £1m to local charities and good causes, including renovations, repairs and rebuilds of popular local structures. Top bod Michael Eavis even employs litter pickers and other workers over the course of the year to make sure the town stays spic and span.

So for some residents, Glastonbury will be the highlight of their year, for others, the thousands of rockers that arrive by the carload will be nothing more than a massive pain in the backside. Sure, the festival might be a disruption, but it's great to know that Glasto makes the effort to support both local businesses and small traders and be really sustainable. Now that's something we don't mind braving the mud for.

Pictures by Flickr users rodrigoferrari and Russ Garrett