GLASTONBURY, Woodstock, Isle of Wight: small places which developed worldwide reputations for delivering great festivals. Newton Abbot might not quite be in their league just yet, but the fact that the weekend's Lemonfest attracted an audience of 2,500 is something to celebrate. A straw poll among those in town for the event revealed that a good number of them had come in from outside the district. And they won't have come with empty wallets. The organisers were delighted with the results, too, having broken even for the first time in the show's four-year history. The headline act this year was Lucy Rose, a name which may not mean much to the over-30s, but she's an up-and-coming songstress whose next gig this summer is, yes, Glastonbury. Even if Lemonfest is never destined to rival its more famous big brother, at least developing a name as a good warm-up stage for the Somerset venue would be no bad thing. The racecourse provides a pretty decent spot to hold such gatherings and we hope plans for next year's festival go well. Newton Abbot – and we include its neighbour Kingsteignton in that title – is changing. Sure, there will be some who will mourn the passing of the 'old' town, but nothing stays the same. How much better it is to embrace the new, to see the opportunities. We wonder what other ideas are currently germinating in people's minds that one day may define what we think of as Newton Abbot. Come on everyone, thinking caps on. Because one thing's for sure: stand still for just a moment and watch as other Devon communities happily take advantage.

See pages 62 and 63, 7 JUNE 2013, for Lemonfest coverage...