New summer music event aims to boost town’s economy
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A cricket club is hoping to bring more visitors to the town by hosting a new annual summer music event.
Somerset County Cricket Club has teamed up with <a href="https://comicvibe.com/approach-entertainment-signs-acclaimed-indian-classical-singer-mousumi-chakraborty/” title=”Approach entertainment signs acclaimed Indian classical singer Mousumi Chakraborty”>entertainment company Full Fat 360 to launch Somerset Sounds, an annual summer music event starting next year.
Organisers say it will attract major international artists and bring more visitors, jobs and money into the local economy.
Caroline Herbert, commercial director at Somerset County Cricket Club, said: “We’re kind of starved of music. Obviously, Glastonbury is a fantastic event but outside of that, we want to make Taunton famous for putting on live music.”
Herbert said: “We’ve got a legacy of hosting big concerts with the likes of Elton John, so it seemed the natural progression.
“We want to make this a destination for entertainment and bring big touring acts to not only Taunton, but the region.”
She added that cricket fans will not have to worry about the pitch, as the concerts will have “minimal impact”.
“We’ll protect the pitch as best we can as part of this. Cricket is what we do so we wouldn’t risk anything for that,” she said.
‘It will attract people’
Giles Adams, chair of Visit Somerset, said he thinks the event will change Taunton’s profile as a place to go to for larger events.
“Anything that’s more regular reduces the need for Taunton people to go further afield but also from a tourism point of view, it will attract people to go to Taunton,” Adams said.
“Both the ground and Taunton’s connectivity is really important and combine to make it a really good place for this.”
Adams added that Taunton has been building up its cultural offerings for the past years, which is a good foundation for a larger event to find its home in the town.
“The better the arts and culture offer is for people that live in Somerset, it’s also really positive for the people living and working here and perhaps for people looking at moving their business here and moving their workforce here,” Adams added.
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