Manchester Day’s future to be decided

Manchester City Council is set to make a decision regarding Manchester Day 2011.

A report, which will be reviewed by the council's Executive on Wednesday 15 September, will consider the benefits that the inaugural Manchester Day brought to the city.

The first Manchester Day was held on 20 June 2010 and saw more than 100 groups and 1800 individuals parade through the city centre watched by tens of thousands of people, who lined the streets in the perfect summer sunshine.

Now the Executive will decide on whether the event will be held again in 2011 and will be basing their decision on the tangible opportunities that Manchester Day brought to the city.

A modest estimate suggests that it brought an additional £4.1m to the local economy, and the benefits to local communities have also been well documented in terms of educational and volunteer opportunities and the accessibility for a wide range of different groups.

Councillor Mike Amesbury, Manchester City Council's executive member for culture and leisure said: "This year's Manchester Day exceeded all expectations. We will now be looking at the achievements of this year's Manchester Day and are confident that this is something we could hold again in 2011 as a way of celebrating our city and bringing communities together."

Councillor Pat Karney, chair of the Manchester Day Parade said: "There has never been an event like this anywhere in the country but where Manchester goes, other cities follow and I'm sure we will see similar events springing up around the country. We now want to build on this momentum with an even better event next summer, with even more people, even bigger and brighter floats creating an even larger celebration to show once again why Manchester is the best city in the world."  

An independent survey by Ipsos MORI found that the parade was a way of attracting people into the city centre, with 98% of those surveyed saying that it was a good event for the city to hold and 97% saying they'd recommend it to others.

This and other feedback from spectators and participants as well as an evaluation of the financial benefits that the parade brought will be among a number of considerations that will be addressed by the Executive as they now decide if and how to build on the success of Manchester Day for 2011.