Spirit of Rise to live on at Finsbury Park picnic (From Haringey Independent)

Spirit of Rise to live on at Finsbury Park picnic

1:12pm Friday 10th July 2009

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CAMPAIGNERS will keep the spirit of Rise alive this weekend when they turn out for a community picnic on Sunday.

Rise Festival was one of the biggest free music events in Europe and attracted big names such as Jimmy Cliff.

Held annually in Finsbury Park, the festival had also carried an anti-racism message and received significant sponsorship from anti-fascist groups.

But in his first month of office, mayor Boris Johnson dropped the anti-racist message in favour of "celebrating diversity".

Months later, Mr Johnson announced Rise would be cancelled entirely because of lack of sponsorship.

Campaigners have since been lobbying Mr Johnson to reinstate the festival but have been unsuccessful.

Instead they will honour the loved festival with a community picnic between 2pm and 7pm.

Though music won't be played on a mass scale, musicians are being asked to bring along their instruments for an acoustic session.

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