Innocent swaps summer music festivals for family village f鳥s

Innocent is scrapping its free annual Fruitstock music festival after four years and replacing it with a "summer of village fêtes".

The move comes after last year’s free festival attracted more than 120,000 people to Regent’s Park in London.

Innocent says it is expecting no more than 60,000 to attend its flagship village fête, which, it is understood, will be more low key.

The new initiative is expected to take the focus away from music to more family-oriented events.

The smoothie-maker will run the new flagship fête event in Regent’s Park in the first week of August, followed by a tour across UK towns and cities throughout the summer.

Sledge is handling the marketing and promotion of the London and regional events.

Gareth Helm, marketing director at Innocent, says the events are about "keeping it nice and simple", and are principally geared towards the family.

He adds: "The Innocent summer of village fêtes is about bringing a bit of the countryside to the city, with the highlight being the UK’s biggest village fete in the UK’s biggest city."

This year’s event will feature Fruitstock events, such as yoga classes and a knitting corner, but they will sit alongside new offerings such as coconut shies and welly wanging.

Sledge’s sales and marketing director Ian Irving says: "The village fete concept was a natural progression for Innocent that was in keeping with the brand. Village fêtes are all about community, the outdoors, raising money for good local causes, low-tech entertainment, good food and silly games."