When it comes to celebrating holidays or any major events, we think it’s fair to say Manchester will gladly throw itself full bodied into whatever reason there is to enjoy a fiesta.
And this month another celebration is arriving in the 0161, one not often seen around the North West, but one everybody should be very, very excited about.
The reason for said excitement? PATRÓN Tequila is delivering the greatest Mexican import to Manchester since Javier ‘Chicharito’ Hernandez arrived at Old Trafford in 2010.
Mexico’s historic Día de Muertos celebrations, while not an alternative to Halloween, but rather an honouring of life, will be felt full force across many of the city’s top venues, with PATRÓN Tequila inviting everyone to raise a glass in honour of the living and the dead. From Día de Muertos inspired cocktails to take-overs that bring to life the colourful iconography of the Mexican holiday, the activities will culminate in a kaleidoscopic street parade, featuring the iconic characters of Mexico City’s renowned festivity, outside Oast House on Friday 29th October at 8pm.
Falling on 1st and 2nd November, Día de Muertos stems from the ancient belief that during those days, our deceased loved ones have the divine permission to visit friends and families on earth and spend time together celebrating life. Preparing vibrant and flavoursome offerings (Ofrendas) on altars to welcome their ancestors, Mexicans observe the festivity through food, drinks, and rich symbolism including decorative Cempasúchil flowers (Marigolds), Calaveras (an ornate representation of the human skull) and papel picado (colourful papers).
This year, to mark the occasion in Manchester, PATRÓN Tequila will be bringing together Mexican heritage and a selection of the city’s most notoriously excitable hospitality venues for over a week of get togethers where you can toast this beautiful celebration of life fuelled by Mexico’s most iconic spirit.
Here is where and how you can embrace the Día de Muertos celebrations with PATRÓN, whether it’s around the city or at home.
PATRÓN Día de Muertos cocktail menus, immersive decorations and entertainment at:
The Oast House, Spinningfields:26th October – 2nd November. The celebration will be brought to life with inspired PATRÓN cocktails & a Día De Muertos parade commencing Friday 29th October 8pm.
The Ivy Spinningfields:11th October – 7th November. Bringing Día De Muertos colourfully to life, The Ivy has designed a special cocktail list featuring five PATRÓN cocktails.
Ducie Street Warehouse: 30th October – 3rd November. Themed Día de Muertos decor and colours will surround a special cocktail list and an exclusive night in the company of La Danse Macabre DJ on 30th October.
Crazy Pedro’s, Bridge Street and Northern Quarter:29th October – 2nd November. Immersive décor and a bespoke cocktail menu featuring PATRÓN Silver, PATRÓN Reposado and PATRÓN Añejo to celebrate Día de Muertos. A special Jalisco Disco DJ night will also take place on 30th October.
The Firehouse, Ramona: 26th October – 2nd November. The newest food and drink experience from the Ramona team will be host to immersive decor and themed PATRÓN cocktails.
The Manchester Food and Drink Festival has announced a special event for its 2021 event – a curry club in partnership with some of the city’s finest Indian restaurants.
The MFDF Curry Club will take place at Hub at Cathedral Gardens, taking over the entire space for the night for an undercover, al fresco celebration of Indian street food.
The meat-free menu will be prepared by some of the best Indian restaurants in Greater Manchester: Bundobust, Dishoom, Aunty Ji’s in Levenshulme, Sanskruti in Burnage and Lily’s in Ashton.
Restaurants taking part include Dishoom, Bundobust, Lily’s, Aunty Ji’s and Sanskruti
The event will celebrate the diverse dishes from across India. Each restaurant will be cooking up the banquet on site, serving their own signature dishes street food style.
There will be curries, chaats, Gujarati specialities, handmade sweets from Lily’s and lots more.
Tarka Dal from Aunty Ji’s
Masala Dosa from Sanskruti
The Desi Jockeys will be on the decks on the evening, playing a mix of Bollywood, Bhangra and British chart sounds.
Events are making a comeback. After waiting for so long it feels almost surreal to imagine going to large scale events once again: gigs, theatre shows and festivals. But this summer, that might just become possible once again.
One big date in the calendar for events in the city is of course the Manchester International Festival, which takes place every two years.
MIF has announced it will return from 1 to 18 July this year with a vibrant programme of original new work from musicians, visual and performing artists from over 20 different countries.
Events will take place at indoor and outdoor locations across Greater Manchester, as well as a programme of online and live-streamed events.
There will also be the first ever work on the construction site of The Factory – the landmark cultural space that will become MIF’s future home.
Many of the works have been created as a direct response to the events of the past year, reflecting on themes such as love and human connections, division and togetherness, equality and social change, and the relationship between the urban and the rural.
Manchester International Festival Artistic Director & Chief Executive, John McGrath says:
“MIF has always been a Festival like no other – with almost all the work being created especially for us in the months and years leading up to each Festival edition. But who would have guessed two years ago what a changed world the artists making work for our 2021 Festival would be working in?
“I am thrilled to be revealing the projects that we will be presenting from 1-18 July this year – a truly international programme of work made in the heat of the past year and a vibrant response to our times. Created with safety and wellbeing at the heart of everything, it is flexible to ever-changing circumstances, and boldly explores both real and digital space.
“We hope MIF21 will provide a time and place to reflect on our world now, to celebrate the differing ways we can be together, and to emphasise, despite all that has happened, the importance of our creative connections – locally and globally.”
Festival Square
Festival Square will move to Cathedral Gardens this year
The centre of the action, and free to enter throughout the event will be Festival Square, which will find its new home in Cathedral Gardens.
There will be free entertainment including curated nights from Mr Scruff, DJ Paulette, Homoelectric, Jamz Supernova and more artists from across the UK.
There’s always a great selection of food and drink to be found at Festival Square too. Previous years have seen restaurants and traders like Kala, Levanter, Majit’s Kitchen and Firebird Hope serving food on the Square.
Music
Arlo Parks will perform a one-off concert for MIF21
Alongside the free live music programme on Festival Square, there will be ticketed live music events throughout the festival. Live music performances include a one-off concert from singer-songwriter Arlo Parks who will be performing with musicians from the Royal Northern College of Music.
Poet, musician and activist Patti Smith will perform two nights of shows and there will be a journey into Manchester’s hip hop underground with Unity Radio and Manchester Hip Hop archive.
There will also be performances from Islamic culture festival Salaam and a concert with Manchester Camerata called The Patience of Trees.
Performances and installations
The opening night will see hundreds of dancers take over Deansgate, including 150 local residents. The work, called Sea Change, by French choreographer Boris Charmatz has been created as a celebration of togetherness in a post-Covid world.
There will be a 42 metre sculpture of Big Ben in Piccadilly Gardens by Argentinian artist Marta Minujín. The London landmark will be assembled from 20,000 copies of books that have shaped British politics.
Marta Minujín
Artist and activist Cephas Williams will create 100 portraits of Black British people, including many from Manchester. The portraits will be displayed throughout Manchester Arndale, highlighting the contribution of Black people living in the UK.
Cillian Murphy stars in a new film, All of This Unreal Time, which will have its world premiere at MIF, shown as an immersive installation in surround sound.
Another world premiere for MIF21 will be a theatre performance of Girl Woman Other author Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche‘s 2020 essay for the New Yorker Notes On Grief, following the death of her father will be staged by Director Rae McKen.
Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche
The Factory will house a new sound and light installation, Arcadia, by opera and theatre Director Deborah Warner. For one weekend only, audiences will be invited to wander through a field of luminous tents housing a soundscape of poetry inspired by the natural world.
There will be a partnership with Lagos-based festival Homecoming, a celebrating of African creativity and culture. This will be the first in a long-term relationship between the two events, marking a cultural exchange between Nigeria and Manchester.
Other installations include one with Turner Prize winner Laure Prouvost and the newly redeveloped Manchester Jewish Museum; the opening of an ‘anti-consumerist’ grocery shop by Pakistani artist Rashid Rana; and the publication of a book of love letters from 100 Greater Manchester residents to poets and writers by South African artist Kemang Wa Lehulere.
The Factory site will house a new sound and light installation
MIF LIVE
Following the success of its free programme for at-home audiences during lockdown, MIF’s online channel will return for the Festival.
Audiences from anywhere in the world will be able to access performances, live music, exclusive interviews, and a range of commentary and talks.
Online audiences will also be able to visit the ‘Virtual Factory’ – a series of online artworks inspired by the architecture and the ambition of the building.
When is it?
Manchester International Festival is taking place from 1 to 18 July 2021.
The Festival Square is at Cathedral Gardens and other live performances and events will take place at venues across Greater Manchester.
Tickets go on sale on Thursday 20 May. To view the full programme, visit: mif.co.uk.
Manchester’s best restaurants, bars, cafes and other operators were celebrated at the Manchester Food and Drink Festival virtual awards ceremony last night.
It’s been a challenging year for the hospitality industry as a whole and for MFDF which had to postpone its Festival Hub on Cathedral Gardens this year due to covid-19.
Despite not being able to open the Hub, MFDF was still able to go ahead with various parts of the programme including events at restaurants, at-home elements like delivery boxes and, of course, the MFDF awards.
The rescheduled event will now take place from 1 to 11 April, 2021, which – silver lining – will hopefully mean that we get two food and drink festivals in one year.
The Festival Hub in Cathedral Gardens
The winners of the MFDF awards would normally be revealed at a gala dinner event, which for the last two years has been hosted at Gorton Monastery.
This year, however, the awards ceremony was hosted virtually and live-streamed on Facebook from Moda Angel Gardens.
Nominees for the awards waited for the announcements in a virtual ‘green room’ as presenter, BBC 6 Music’s Matt White revealed the winners.
This also meant that for the first time, the public was able to watch along too; fitting, as all winners this year were decided purely by public vote.
The live-streamed event was hosted by BBC 6 Music’s Matt White
The categories for the awards this year were adapted in order to reflect the ways that the hospitality industry has had to change due to covid-19 – and to celebrate the hard work of those who were able to overcome these challenges.
New awards for 2020 include Best DIY delivery food offering, Best food and drink delivery box, Best innovation, Best takeaway adaptation and the Lockdown Heroes award.
Commenting on the awards, Phil Jones, Manchester Food and Drink Festival’s Founding Director, said:
“We’re very pleased to be able to recognise our brilliant hospitality sector during this extraordinarily difficult time. MFDF is proud to celebrate such a wonderful range of businesses and individuals, all showcasing the strong stuff that our local industry is made of.
“There’s been huge amounts of innovation and creativity – even during such a tough time, we’ve much to celebrate.
“Congratulations to all the winners, and nominees – the Festival will continue to support the industry however it can over the coming months … roll on April 2021”.
The full list of winners for the Manchester Food and Drink Festival awards 2020
Shindigger delivered beer boxes in under three hours throughout lockdown
The nominees:
Grandad Sausages – “The Sausage Hotline”- Delivering BBQ kits and breakfast packs
Great North Pie Co – Pie box delivery
Lupo Caffe Italiano – Italian treats and veg boxes
R Noone and Son- Fruit and veg boxes
Reserve Wines – Wine box deliveries
The Crafty Cheese Man – Cheese board delivery boxes
Zouk – BBQ boxes
Best Innovation
Sponsored by Hun Wine
The winner: Stretford Foodhall – finding innovative ways to serve the community right the way through lockdown… from street food takeaway to free grocery delivery for the vulnerable.
Stretford Foodhall won the Best Innovation award
The shortlist:
Grub-E-Mart – hosting street vendors online for orders and collections
Levenshulme Market – providing a platform for traders to go online as well as local charities
Andrew Nutter – Nutter’s Cheese and Wine Boutique
Cloudwater – supporting other breweries through the crisis, letting them use their webshop and supporting Higher Ground with deliveries.
Didsbury Gin – moving gin production to hand sanitiser
Manchester Union Lager- growler collection and refills
House of Hops – investing in canning production to enable them to order, pour, seal and deliver beer on the same day
Recognising someone who has contributed something outstanding to the food and drink industry in Greater Manchester.
Mary-Ellen McTague from The Creameries and Eat Well MCR.
The moment Mary Ellen realised she’d won the Howard & Ruth Outstanding achievement award
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