00:00It's that time of year again for Maidstone's annual river festival. The event invites boat
00:06owners and the public to celebrate the river medway and raise money for charities across the town.
00:14Did you know that Maidstone's town bridge was built by Sir Joseph Bazalgette in 1879
00:21to replace an old and unsafe medieval one? This year also celebrates the 65th anniversary
00:31of the relationship between Maidstone and Beauvais in France.
00:37We are twinned with Beauvais, this is our 65th anniversary. We have Gasco coming over, there's
00:44six of them, two of them are deputy mayors of Beauvais. We went over the other week to their
00:49genre as they say, where the whole town shuts down and everyone gets involved in the festival for
00:55the weekend. It's fantastic. And of course there are plenty of favourite memories and moments for
01:02people who visit the river festival. Seeing all the people go past and smiling with the music.
01:07Yeah, just a fun day. I think all the boats that we've seen today, we've had some, we've seen some
01:15lovely boats all the way along here. Atmosphere is amazing, so that's what I love about it. The river,
01:21just being on the boats, everyone's just had so much fun in it, everyone gets on, the kids love it.
01:28It was also the Bacon Butty Brigade who won the raft race this time, even earning a second award for
01:37outstanding sportsmanship. I'm incredibly proud, this is our fifth year. I think this is our third win of the
01:44five years and they worked so hard by my team to build the rafts, to make something creative,
01:51make something fun, to make people laugh. And following the race down the riverside, all the
01:57fans that are cheering, it's fantastic. But as well as this, the Maidstone River Festival
02:03is about having summer fun and celebrating the community. Henry Luck for KMTV in Maidstone.
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