Being French Canadian I enjoy holding outdoors parties once the winter is over, and May is the perfect party time.

Being a relative newbie and the new manager of liquid deli Demijohn, I am therefore brimming with ideas and entertainment for all the shoppers from Jericho and the whole of Oxfordshire and can’t wait for Little Clarendon Street’s annual street party held by the traders on Saturday from noon until 5pm. It’s the perfect excuse for us all to have fun and begin to enjoy the summer.

Everyone in Little Clarendon Street is up for it and offering some great specials, tastings and entertainment to transform the afternoon into its own mini carnival.

The street will be closed off to normal traffic for the afternoon to let us go wild.

At Demijohn we are already in party atmosphere having decorated the shop with lots of colourful origami on the ceiling and we’ll be serving mocktails and offering special tastings.

Local business is at the heart of any community like Jericho. Life would simply not be the same without the buzz of its local shops, restaurants, bars and wonderful other businesses.

As summer approaches, Little Clarendon Street is ready to celebrate and ensure that the street’s future is a healthy and prosperous one. So, further down the street there will be a fashion show put on by Olivia May clothes shop, ice cream from G&D, magicians, free tastings from the Natural Bread Company, cocktails from Café Rouge, food tastings from Elham Lebanese and more.

During the few months I’ve been at the Little Clarendon Street branch, I’ve learned to love the friendly atmosphere and the banter between the shops. And it’s this community spirit that we wanted to spread and share with our customers at the street party.

No carnival would be complete without music so we have local musicians and choirs, supported by local performing arts coming to play on the day.

Other entertainment will also be on offer for the younger visitors to make it a family day out.

There will be no charge but we are aiming to do bucket shakes for local hospice Sobell House which has a shop on the street.

As many of you know Demijohn is always a hive of activity even when there is no carnival around! When not offering our customers a little taste of the latest drink (have your tried our new Dry British Vermouth which makes an incredible Dry Martini?) we are creating new displays in the shop or dreaming up new cocktails so it’s never a dull place. In fact, I had no idea retailing could be this much fun.

So remember: local shopping certainly offers better quality of goods and a feel good factor in the age of internet shopping and 24 hour supermarkets. And the street party is our chance to show you why. See you on Saturday.

Go to facebook.com/littleclarendonstreet/