A summer full of festivals

If you've spent any time reading through one of the many online or in print what's on guides in Jersey over the last few weeks you'll have spotted one word repeated over and over again.

Festival.

So far this summer we've had the International Motoring festival, the June in Bloom Floral festival, the Bonne Nuit Harbour festival, the Brazilian Cultural Festival and many other smaller events.

Then there's also the West Show, the Fish Festival, the Jersey Seaside Festival, the Film Festival, Summer Flower Show, Jersey Live festival, Gorey Fete, Beer and Cider Festival, Branchage film festival, St Aubin's festival and Fete de Noue.

If you create a quick word cloud of the Jersey Tourism 'a-z events' page, you'll see the word 'festival' features prominently.

When I created the cloud 'festival' was the second most mentioned word after walk - that's after removing parish names and common words.

So why the explosion of festivals? What is it that makes a festival such an attractive proposition for event promoters?

Mike Tait from Jersey Tourism told me a festival is a great way to celebrate what we have as an island.

He said that a festival should be a: "celebration of bounty, when you are truly bountiful you have a festival."

But that it was important to make sure that the festival is part of the society running the event, that is isn't just about promotion.

He said: "The essence of a true festival has its route within the culture and heart of the islands psyche."

Mike believes we have so many festivals because we have so much in the island, we've cause to celebrate our seafood, gardens, music, flowers, agriculture and diverse culture.

He believes that any festival should be a "celebration of Jersey's culture, celebration of what we have."

But, the question I'm still asking myself is "when is a festival a festival and when is it just a long event?"

To become a festival does it need to cover more than one area - so two stages at an event, or a second thing for people to do on the day?

Does it have to be a certain length? Or, is it just a case of getting into the psyche of the island and capturing imagination?