Record crowd at Birmingham summer festival

Published: 20 July 2019
Reporter: Steve Orme

Motionhouse performing Gravity under Luke Jerram's Museum of the Moon Credit: Simon Hadley

A record attendance of more than 37,000 people attended Birmingham Hippodrome's annual free family festival Summer in Southside which celebrated 50 years since the first moon landing.

The figure was 11,700 more than in 2018. The festival expanded across new sites covering Birmingham Hippodrome and the Arcadian and Bullring shopping centre, transforming them into a lunar landscape.

Among the attractions was Hippodrome associate company Motionhouse performing its dance piece Gravity under Luke Jerram's Museum of the Moon, a seven-metre model with detailed NASA imagery of the lunar surface which hung over the Arcadian square.

Graham Callister, director of festivals at Birmingham Hippodrome, commented, “it was a fantastic weekend seeing so many families join us to celebrate 50 years since the first moon landing. We’re already planning to make next year's event our most spectacular yet.”

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