I’m going to throw this out there: I honestly think Micklegate Soapbox is the best event for locals in York. Last year’s event attracted over 24,000 visitors with an estimated £30,000 raised for local charities. What a huge return on a one day event run by a team of local volunteers!

I recently went to see the very impressive Marc Allison, Owner of Artful Dodger and Chair of Micklegate Business Initiative, who organise the event to find out how this year is looking.

The Micklegate soapbox challenge is the biggest annual event in York city centre, taking over a large part of the city for an entire day. In 2018 we attracted approximately 24,000 people to Micklegate on August Bank Holiday Monday, and had around 750,000 people watching it live on Minster FM’s facebook feed.

It’s calculated that the event brought in £1.2m directly to the local economy and prompted well over a thousand extra hotel nights, and raised in the region of £30,000 for good causes.

Despite this success, the team still need to attract some local sponsors to ensure this year’s event can go ahead. They are, therefore, appealing to local business owners, larger companies or individuals who would like to support this high-profile event:

We are looking for businesses to help this fantastic event go ahead. We are offering advertising packages ranging from £200 up to £25,000 with everything from banners along the course itself, to full naming rights for the event.

All income to the event goes straight back in to improve the day for the thousands who come along to enjoy it for free, giving maximum exposure to our partners and sponsors.

If you would like to be involved, please drop Marc a line at micklegaterun@gmail.com.

There are also a few places left for teams, but they are filling up fast. If you have a team that you would like to enter, go to www.micklegaterun.co.uk/how-to-enter