Mann Made Festival - Andy Saunders and James Bennett talk to Media Isle of Man about the new festival for Isle of Man TT 2025
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00:00There's an exciting proposal just outside the sea terminal really, it looks like TT could have a bit of something new, can you tell us a bit about it?
00:07Yeah well, it's something that's been in the pipelines ever since we've had the loss of the Iron Man Food and Drink Festival
00:13and hopefully, if it works very well James, it's not just about TT, this is the first of many events
00:20and what we're hoping to produce is the man-made festival which will be a showcase of Manx Produce, Manx Food, Manx Drink
00:29and Manx Culture hopefully for everyone all the way through, not just TT this time, this will be the big launch one
00:36which will hopefully be successful and allow us to fund lots of other events throughout the year
00:41and also just to get a place for Manx Producers to really get their product out in front of people that get them
00:48Absolutely and James, I've spoke to you quite a lot about this and it's been an idea for quite some time
00:52tell me why you think now is the right time to do it?
00:55There's a culmination of a few factors but the main one is that even as far as last year when I tried to help another James with this Douglas Food Market
01:04I was a bit late and engaged to try and get that one running
01:07but there's a real need for somewhere for small businesses and people who are excited to produce food to get access to the crowds that TT bring
01:17and there isn't really a platform for that. Obviously there are a few events there but quite a lot of them are established
01:24and other ones are a bit exclusive for who they allow, either financially or just the fact that people have a bit of a grip on it already
01:32and they find it difficult to enter. So this idea that I actually had at the same time as Andy and we met trying to get it together
01:42and that's how we managed to work together. It's something that allows that platform to exist at an attainable price point
01:50and allows people to try their food ideas without it being a massive financial risk
01:56and on the flip side it allows visitors to the island to get a bigger idea of what the island can produce and what we're good at
02:03It's that sort of mutual, you know, we give them a platform and the platform allows producers to go and actually serve good quality food at a reasonable price
02:12because there's another argument there that TT's too expensive for businesses
02:16This should help combat that experience and that feeling quite a lot
02:20So