The sun shone on the fourth annual Big Olney Food Festival (BOFF’), and Olney’s market place was alive with locals and visitors to the town, sampling the wide variety of food delights the town has to offer. 

 

“We barely had chance to put the finishing touches to our stall before the crowds started to descend,” said James Lomax of the Bull In, who co-organised the event. “It was great to see people tucking in the minute the doors opened at noon!” 

 

“BOFF celebrates Olney as a community, showing visitors that we are a unique and friendly town, with a lot to offer,” said Samantha Tomlin, Chair of Olney Chamber of Trade and co-organiser of the event. “I was totally overwhelmed by the number of visitors we had on the day, the support of our sponsors and the volunteers that worked so hard. I can’t thank everyone enough for all their hard work.” 

 

Buckinghamshire’s High Sheriff, Carolyne Cummings, and Catriona Morris, Mayor of Milton Keynes, judged the ‘Big Olney Bake Off’ competition with the Great Gappo. “This was our first baking competition, and I was flabbergasted by the number and standard of entries,” said Samantha. “We have some very talented bakers out there, so the judges had quite a task selecting each category winner!” 

 

And there was plenty for the kids - alongside face painting, glitter tattoos and biscuit decorating, the fantastic ‘Great Gappo’ entertained them for most of the afternoon, giving mums and dads chance to soak up the atmosphere. 

 

As the sun went down and day turned to night, the area’s only Ukulele Group, ‘MKulele’ got the crowd going before headline band ‘Chocolate Badger’ got them on their feet to dance the night away.