Our editor Kai Lutterodt aka @the.soho.girl reflects on her experience attending this year’s Soho Village Fete, and shares some highlights captured!
This autumn will mark two decades since I moved to Soho back in 2003, yet this summer was my first time attending the Soho Village Fete organised by The Soho Society. On one hand I feel a sense of achievement that the dream of becoming a travel journalist was fulfilled to some degree (pun very much intended – getting that journalism degree whilst dyslexic was like swimming against a forceful current), with many summers abroad in search of some cultural experience to pursue. On the other hand, it also meant that I never got to immerse myself in what is one of Soho’s biggest annual community events.
You can live in an amazing place, however it doesn’t make you part of the community unless you’re actively involved in it. And that’s the essence of my ‘why‘ for creating My Soho Times, an independent hyper local lifestyle magazine and events platform, almost four years ago. It’s my ode to this weird and wonderful pulse of London I get to call home.
But it hasn’t been easy! There’s an element of nativity I attribute to starting this magazine venture, ‘no one will hand this opportunity to me, so I’ll create my own!‘ I thought, and off I went with no start-up funds to create a FREE quarterly print publication. I can list on all ten fingers the barriers which continue to hold me back, pretty much like trying to turn on a oneway street (and Soho is filled with those!). However in this day and age of celebrating ‘diversity’, it’s my ‘otherness’ I wear most proudly, and I try to remind myself to bring my whole authentic self (‘pepper dem small‘ – add your spice to the mix – as they’d say in West African pidgin). That’s the beauty of Soho, there’s space for everyone to shine.
And so when a reminder about the fete date popped into my inbox, I knew this would be the year I’d be going, come rain or shine. So far, it’s been the highlight of my summer!
The Soho Fete & Waites Race
You’d have seen the colourful, caricature-illustration poster promoting the fete dotted around Soho and on the windows of local businesses. This year marked the fete’s 48th anniversary, with homage, ‘in loving memory of Leslie Hardcastle‘, to the late community icon and the Soho Society’s former president amongst an accolade of cherished titles.
The main stage provided the bulk of the entertainment with live music, sing-a-longs and drag queens. The side shows included a Spaghetti Eating competition, The Soho Dog show, Tug o’ War between the Police v Fire Brigade (the Soho Police won), and the acclaimed Soho Waiters Race, won by Ronnie Scotts, which drew in an impressive crowd to cheer on their favourite local establishment.
The unofficial stage, not mentioned in the lineup, belonged of course the people and personalities who attended this communal event; artist and style icon George Skeggs aka Soho George, New Evaristo Club‘s matriarch Trisha, Pearly Kings and Queens, tailors, and film producers to name a few. I gave a little nod to journalism by wearing a newspaper print mesh top… read all about it!
The fete ended with a finale from Drag Queen Ebb-on-Knee, Minnie Diamond CBE & Friends singing ‘New York New York’ replacing the chorus with ‘Soho Soho’. True to the lyrics, I affirmed to myself ‘if I can make it here, I can make it anywhere!‘ I left with a reassured sense of belonging, despite the difficult year I’ve had trying to sustain a print business with little support. The village fete was my ‘coming out‘ of a five month hiatus (I heard someone else refer to being ‘off the radar‘ this way and thought it sounded very demure, much better than ‘I f**ked off for a bit to clear my head alriiiight?!). So to see and feel such an outpour of love and concern from my friends and neighbours filled my heart, and offered another little reminder of an African Proverb; it takes a village, and in my case, to raise this Soho girl.
Written by Kai Lutterodt *I’m delightfully dyslexic (and courageously creative) – please excuse any typos! | Photos: The Soho Girl / My Soho Times. More pics on our Facebook page www.facebook.com/mysohotimes
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