Barbecue 67 exhibition on 52nd anniversary of 'Spalding’s first taste of the swinging life'
One of the biggest musical events ever staged in Spalding is being commemorated with a new exhibition in the area.
The sights and sounds of Barbecue 67 can be seen and enjoyed again at Uptown Vinyl Records Music Shop, inside Baytree Garden Centre, Weston.
It captures the day when at least 10,000 teenagers poured into the Spalding town centre over the Late Spring Bank Holiday in May 1967 for a music festival that featured artists who went on to become legends.
What was Spalding’s Tulip Bulb Auction Hall, now Holland Market shopping centre and service station, hosted a line-up that included Jimi Hendrix, Cream (including Eric Clapton), Pink Floyd, The Move, Geno Washington and The Ram Jam Band, Zoot Money and South Holland-based Sounds Force 5.
Alan Barnsdale, owner of Uptown Vinyl Records, said: “A friend of mine named Doug Kendall put on the Barbecue 67 exhibition at South Holland Centre two years ago.
“When I moved my shop from Spalding to Baytree about a month ago, I found there was some extra space here I could use.
“So with the 52nd anniversary of Barbecue 67 coming up, Doug has been loaned his exhibition to us.
“It tells the tale of the event and when people walk past the exhibition, we stop them and tell them that it really happened in Spalding.”
Tickets for Barbecue 67 event cost just £1 in 1967, the equivalent of £18 today.
At the time, our sister newspaper, the Spalding Guardian, described the event as “Spalding’s first taste of the swinging life - the beat concert".
The Guardian wrote: "The beat festival itself was an undoubted success, all the big names turned up and the vast auction halls were so packed, it was a case of standing and sweating, rather than dancing."
Alan said: "I was 11 when Barbecue 67 was on, but I never knew anything about it.
"But some of those who were there told me that up to 250,000 people would have come to Spalding on special trains and hundreds of buses from places like Boston, King’s Lynn and Wisbech.
”At the time, Spalding had its annual Tulip Parade and when the promoter of Barbecue 67 who found out that didn't cost a lot of money to get the musicians to come along, he organised a rock festival.
“The exhibition will be here until the end of June and we’re also selling reproductions of the original posters for Barbecue 67 at £5 each, with the proceeds going to Macmillan Cancer Support."
Mark Elliott, marketing manager for Baytree, said: "It's a bit of a coup to have a unique piece of living history here and there's the obvious attraction of bringing people in to see us who wouldn't normally come to a garden centre."
