News

MVIS Helps Belper Pride Run Smoothly

On Saturday 6th August, we supported and supplied several units free of charge for this year’s Belper Pride. As well as receiving some fantastic feedback from The Pride in Belper Team, they have also written us a blog post about how our signs helped with managing the event. 

Pride in Belper returned to the town this summer, for the first time since its inaugural event in 2019. Although activities still took place online in 2020 and 2021, it wasn’t the same as everyone coming together in person to celebrate the town’s diversity and inclusivity with a parade around the town centre.

Three years ago, it was felt the parade (or ‘Strutt’ as we call it in Belper – after the local millowners) wasn’t long enough, so this time we wanted it to take to the main roads. Once, in the days of Belper’s carnival parades, road closures, long processions and a town centre grinding to a halt for an hour or so was an annual event – expected, accepted and, by many, embraced.

But the carnivals disappeared in the 1990s, so it’s been a long time since road closures, on the scale we had planned, have been seen in the town. Unless we could reach out and warn the multitude of motorists before the day, it could become a fractious and difficult day – not the inclusive celebration it needed to be.

The offer of three portable Variable Message Signs (VMS) from MVIS Ltd not only resolved those worries, but in being the first tangible signs of what was coming to the town the following weekend, they also brought a real sense of anticipation and an acceptance from the public. Acceptance that this would be a professional event – something that could be embraced and would work smoothly despite taking out some of the main streets of a busy town on a Saturday lunchtime.

The portable VMS signs weren’t huge but positioned strategically across the town, they were well-noticed, eye-catching and the perfect way of telling people not only about the expected traffic disruption but also why it was happening – a chance for people to avoid the area by car but instead come to the town centre and join in.

How fantastic that we were able to have rolling information – and that we had colours too, perfect for a Pride-themed rainbow illustration to accompany that information. They were much remarked on in the days leading up to the event, and well recognised as useful, professional tools for ensuring that Pride in Belper ran so smoothly.

Without a doubt, the VMS ensured that the all-important Strutt around the town was an absolute highlight for the town this year. It was a joyful event with very little drama on the roads because people knew what was happening and engaged with the signage before the day.

So, thank you, MVIS Ltd, for sponsoring us in this way, and helping to ensure that Pride in Belper was such an important, emotional and successful day for 11,000 people. You made such a difference, and we love you for it.

The Pride in Belper Team