Cityco, Manchester’s city centre management company, is holding a weekend of family-friendly fun with a three-day picnic, called The Manchester Picnic, taking place across the city centre from 6-8 August 2010.

Piccadilly Gardens will become a picnic oasis for foodie families, with the grassed area transformed with benches and bunting. Along with a range of speciality market stalls selling picnic-style food, there will be 50 wooden picnic tables complete with red and white gingham table cloths. Each day the first 1,000 people to buy from the market stalls will receive a limited edition ‘eco’ picnic bag.

Other specially themed picnic sites will include St John’s Gardens near MOSI (Museum of Science and Industry) and the Roman Gardens at Castlefield. In addition, what is believed to be the world’s first Twitnic – a mass gathering of picnicking Twitter devotees - is being held at Spinningfields, and the Triangle shopping centre hosts an indoor Great British Picnic on the Saturday and Sunday with live music and picnic themed stalls. All of these are free to attend.

On Sunday 8 August, a Teddy Bear’s picnic for families with younger children will take place at Piccadilly Gardens with the Build-A-Bear Workshop’s, Bearemy, making an appearance between 12pm and 4pm. The first 100 children to bring a teddy bear will receive a Build-A-Bear goodie bag.

Specially produced maps, available from the picnic sites, Manchester Visitor Centre in Piccadilly Gardens and The Triangle shopping centre, will help picnickers find the designated sites with picnic benches and other open spaces including Cathedral Gardens, Sackville Gardens, Parsonage Gardens, China Town Pagoda, Piccadilly Basin, banks of the River Irwell, Castlefield Basin, Barbirolli Square and Pioneer Quay off Deansgate.

Vaughan Allen, chief executive of Manchester city centre management company, Cityco said: “If this weather keeps up we’re really heading for a picnic summer. Picnics are a fun way to enjoy the outdoors in a family-friendly environment. This weekend is all about encouraging people to make the most of our open spaces in the city centre. Manchester is a great place to spend a day in the summer and we want to take people on an urban picnicking trail to discover some of our best hideaways and pleasant spots to chill-out.”

The picnic areas will be open from 10am – 6pm all weekend.

The Manchester Picnic map

You can download The Manchester Picnic map and find out exactly what's going and where over the weekend.

For more information on Manchester Twitnic follow twitter.com/MancTwitnic

For more information on Cityco visit cityco.com.