insideKENT Magazine Issue 68 - November 2017 | Page 64

TOWNSPOTLIGHT
Spotlight on MAIDSTONE cont.
Maidstone Museum
ANNUAL EVENTS TOP SPOT DID YOU KNOW?
Maidstone Fringe Festival // May
The free Maidstone Fringe Festival is made up
of over 100 live acts and DJs who perform
across 16 different venues in Maidstone and
the surrounding areas. If you love music, this
is an event for your entertainment calendar. Maidstone Museum is home to a vast
collection of fine art and historical artefacts of
international importance, and is free to all
visitors. With over 600,000 artefacts, Maidstone
Museum enjoys the prestige of possessing
one of the largest collections in Kent, and is
renowned as being one of the best museums
in the south east. Among the most auspicious
collections at the museum are those relating
to archaeology, costume, Ancient Egypt,
ethnography, biology, fine art, geology, local
history, and Japanese decorative arts and
prints. An exciting new gallery will shortly be
opening at Maidstone Museum following a
major refurbishment project. Visitors will be
able to explore the rich and diverse lives of
everyday Egyptians and Greeks through a
series of themed displays and interactive
stations. An immersive experience awaits with
a multi-sensory blend of sights, sounds and
smells as well as items to touch. Maidstone has its own coat
of arms which was granted
by James I in 1619. It depicts
lions, the River Medway, a
white horse (for Invicta), and
an iguanodon! The dinosaur
was, of course, added later,
after its bones were found in
the town in the 19th century
– they can now be seen at
the Natural History Museum
in London.
Maidstone Arts Festival // Jun
A combination of live music, theatre, street
performance and visual art comes together to
create the Maidstone Arts Festival, which is
held each summer. Most of the events are free
and suitable for all the family.
Ramblin Man Fair // Jul
Stages full of rock acts and stalls full of gourmet
food, as well as a beer festival within a festival,
the Ramblin Man Fair in Mote Park grows each
year and is always a surprising event.
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