Cowes Week: no fireworks or Red Arrows but optimism remains

Cowes Week will be without fireworks or the Red Arrows, and the usual main stage entertainment is unlikely this summer, but hopes still remain for a safe return for the historic sailing regatta.

As long as the rules allow, there are plans to get sailors out on the water and spending money in the town’s struggling shops, pubs and eateries.

“We’ve got to be Covid-sensitive and use our common sense,” Cowes Week director Laurence Mead told the County Press.

“What we would like to have is a thriving town event.

“Things must be better than August 2020.

“What we do is Covid dependent, but we’re optimistic.”

Mead says organisers want to hear from Islanders keen to help to create a community street entertainment in a carnival-style – but stress that any such acts can not bring too many people together all at once.

The team is also talking to retailers, pubs and restaurants, through the Cowes Business Association.

“Cowes Week is the most important trading week of the year for everybody in Cowes,” Mead says.

“It’s very important that we have a strong relationship with businesses.

“You can’t have a great Cowes Week unless the town is enjoying it, and is part of it,” he says.

“That’s tourists, residents, sailors. It’s the restaurants and bars and pubs. That’s what the tradition of Cowes is.”

Plans are being drawn up to get people on and off boats safely.

Entries open to sailors on February 21, with around 180 already rolled over from 2020, says the County Press.