British town's cheese rolling festival cancelled because it's 'no longer seen as cool'
They held on to it as long as they could. But now, they've cut the cheese.
For over 50 years, the village of Stilton, England, has hosted a huge annual cheese rolling event. But this year, the event won't be rolling out.
Olive Main, one of the organizers and chair of the Stilton Community Association, said the event's been cancelled due to a "combination of events."
She cited increased costs, bureaucratic rules and general congestion that comes with hosting the event that draws up to 3,000 to the small village.
"I think, generally, it's gone on a bit too long," she said. "We've done the same thing year after year and people have gotten a bit jaded and the enthusiasm has sort of passed by."
According to the Stilton Parish Council's Facebook page, the village festival is "no longer seen as 'cool.'"
An old tradition
The cheese rolling event is a part of Stilton's major village festival, drawing hundreds of villagers and visitors each year to celebrate May Day.
The event has been around for over half a century. After a road bypass was introduced Stilton, it reduced traffic in the village drastically.
Villagers came up with the idea of cheese rolling to draw business and visitors back to Stilton.
In the cheese rolling event, teams of four go head-to-head rolling wooden cylinders painted to look like cheese down Stilton's High Street.
"We don't roll proper Stilton cheese," Main said. "That would be extremely expensive and very smelly."
Hopes for the future
Strangely enough, Stilton cheese is not currently produced in Stilton, and Main says there is a great deal of mystery surrounding its origin.
She said people always assumed it "must have been made in Stilton, because it's that kind of a place, you know — it had lots of pasture and lots of cows and lots of milk.
"But what we now called Stilton has never been made here and can't be by law. It can only be made further north in Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire."
Main wants to bring the event back in 2019, but said it "might not be back in quite the same way."
Some future ideas for the event include moving it out of the centre of the village to a brand new community facility, organizing a craft fair and a food fair, having traditional Maypole dancing and getting more of the village children involved.
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