![\"Pelsall](\"https:\/\/www.canaljunction.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/02\/pelsall_rally1.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/p>\nThe venues for the IWA’s\u00a02016 four main\u00a0boat festivals are here now, and this year boaters should find it easier to get to one!.<\/p>\n
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The annual London-based Canalway Cavalcade<\/strong> \u2013 in its 33rd year \u2013 will again take place in Little Venice over the May Bank Holiday from 30 April to 3 May.<\/p>\n At the end of that month over the Spring Bank Holiday the IWA Trailboat Festival<\/strong> will be on the Chesterfield Canal on 28-29 May. It will in Staveley town Basin and combined with the Chesterfield Canal Trust\u2019s annual festival.\u00a0 A feature will be a trailboat cruise in convoy up the River Rother.<\/p>\n IWA\u2019s National Campaign Festival<\/strong> will be at Liverpool\u2019s Eldonian Village on the Leeds & Liverpool Canal on 11-12 June. Aims are to increase leisure activities on this relatively underused part of the waterway and to help celebrate the bicentenary of the Leeds & Liverpool Canal. Another intention is to campaign for facilities at this location for boaters on passage to and from the Liverpool Link.<\/p>\n Improved passage arrangements through the Liverpool Link waterway introduced by CRT should ensure more boaters can enjoy the city attractions of Liverpool in 2016. With only 45 visitor berths in Salthouse Dock it also means that during popular times, such as the Mersey River Festival in June, boaters also have the alternative of mooring on the main line of the Leeds & Liverpool Canal. This mooring also gives access the city centre attractions about a mile away. The new procedures mean that up to six boats can travel each way every day except Tuesdays. This gives boaters more flexibility over arrival and departure days into Salthouse Dock, compared with the old system which had designated \u2018in\u2019 and \u2018out\u2019 days. One of the advantages of the new system is that boaters can now cruise straight to the end of the Leeds & Liverpool Canal at the Eldonian Village without needing to book a passage from Aintree.<\/p>\n The association\u2019s main IWA Festival of Water<\/strong>, on the Bank Holiday weekend of 27-29 August will be on the Birmingham Canal Navigations (BCN) at Pelsall Common near Walsall (Image top<\/em>). It has already been the location for popular local events and over 200 boats are expected to help boost the use of the Wyrley & Essington Canal and the BCN network as a whole.<\/p>\n Anyone wishing to participate in the festivals \u2013 including traders who may wish to exhibit \u2013 will find contact details for all the events on the IWA website<\/a>.<\/p>\n