The Big Draw
The Big Draw is the world’s biggest drawing festival with thousands of drawing activities connecting people of all ages with museums, outdoor spaces, artists, designers and illustrators. In 2014 The Big Draw covered twenty-six countries, with 414,000 people attending over 1,800 events by 1,000 organisers.
2014
The first Big Draw St Neots was held in Barford Road Pocket Park. For this event large boards were painted white and the outlines of a landscape with woodland, countryside and seaside scenes, following the Big Draw theme It’s Our World, drawn on them by two local illustrators, Andrew Foster and Richard Slade. The event was a huge success attracting over 250 young children, teenagers and adults alike adding all sorts of things including insects, vehicles, animals and even a dragon. Their was a real sense of community, with people coming together from all parts of St Neots. There was fantastic support from head ranger, Matt Hall from Huntingdonshire Countryside Services who ensured the event ran smoothly and everyone respected the park.
2015
In 2015 The Big Draw theme was Every Drawing Tells A Story and the same illustrator from the previous year decided to reuse the boards on the reverse side but this time drawing out over 280 outlines of frames for the visitors to fill in their own picture. Again head ranger, Matt Hall from Huntingdonshire Countryside Services supported and co-organised the event which was this time held in Riverside Park. Over 400 people turned up, including the local press who ran a story that week. The results were fantastic with young children, teenagers and adults all creating unique drawings with all sorts of styles. There was even a visit from one of the supporters of the Revamp the Ramp campaign who drew his own frame to help promote the cause.