SWINDON’S Big Arts Day turned out to be even bigger than ever expected – with an estimated 20,000 people visiting Lydiard Park on Saturday.

Organisers predicted only about 5,000 would attend, but a combination of top cultural attractions and weather acted as a magnet – with numbers reaching around 15,000 at one point in the afternoon.

The scenes of hundreds of families in the park were reminiscent of BBC Radio1’s Big Weekend 14 months ago when equal numbers packed the venue to watch some of the UK’s top musicians.

Swindon Does Arts, a partnership between Swindon Council and local arts organisations, staged the free festival to promote arts in Swindon and get everyone actively engaged in arts activities.

Helen Miah, head of culture at Swindon Council, said: “It was fantastic, it was more than successful. There were 15,000 people at one time in the middle of the afternoon and about 20,000 people came during the course of the day.

“I think the weather helped – it was a lovely day – and I think we got our advertising and marketing just right.

“There were a lot of people who came early, went home and came back in the evening. There were also a lot of people who came, thought ‘this is fantastic’ and phoned up their mates.

“It was the diversity of people that was so brilliant – everything from babies in pushchairs right the way through to older people.”

The Big Arts Day was funded with £25,000 from Swindon Council’s general culture budget, plus sponsorship or in-kind support from many local organisations.

Sponsors included Commonweal School, Swindon and District Samaritans, Bradon Forest Theatre, SUJU nightclub, the Wyvern Theatre, Sugarhill Festival and Swindon Music Service. Many staff at the event also gave their time free-of-charge.

Ms Miah said she felt the festival was ‘value for money’ and had proved the council could run large events on small budgets with the help of the community.

But she stressed it was still up to Swindon councillors as to whether they wanted to fund next year’s event as the public sector cuts hit.

She said: “I hope it will go ahead next year but it is too early to say. All budgets are stretched and the arts budget, I’m sure, will be stretched.”

She added: “If people had a fantastic time and they want it to go ahead next year then they have to write to the Adver and they have to make sure the councillors know.

“If they have enjoyed it and they want it back, they have got to tell people.”

Coun Garry Perkins, deputy council leader, said: “Financially, if we can do it, then I would love this to happen next year because it does so much for Swindon.”

He said that the key to success next year would be to have more business partners involved and to make the event more commercial.