Welcome to Venue’s fantastic festival guide

It’s been a horrible two years for festivals. If the summer rains didn’t get them, the economic downturn did – the combination of both proving fatal to many. In the bicentenary of Darwin’s birth, it has, appropriately enough, been the strongest that have survived, be it through financial power or just sheer guts.

With the weather beyond anyone’s control, festival organisers have worked hard to weatherproof their sites; one has even called in the druids for a special sunshine blessing. Recession-wise, no-one seems sure what the best thing to do about ticket prices is. Some have slapped a tenner on last year’s tariff or started charging hidden extras; others have reduced theirs or made the event free.

One thing that hasn’t altered is the diversity of entertainment on offer. Whatever you’re into – metal or minimalism, banjos or ballet, hard house or harpsichords, scrumpy or swingboats – you’ll find a festival here that’s tailor-made for you.

Wherever you’re heading, have a lovely festival – and tell them Venue sent you.

Anna Britten
Editor

Summer’s on its way - and the festival season is here. Bristol is bursting with established larger events and hundreds of smaller community events and encounters. Our new cycling-city status means Bristol’s Biggest Bike Ride is bigger and better than ever, the annual Harbour Festival will be bursting with local and national work as usual and The Bristol Do in its second year will be expanding in interesting directions.

Bristol has a huge range of summer season offers – from the fairly new Bristol Festival and Bristol Food and Wine Fair, to the established Balloon Fiesta and St Pauls Carnival - alongside a huge myriad of small community-run events such as the Stapleton Road Street Party and Southmead Festival. So there’s something to do every weekend to suit every budget, and the main thing is deciding how much you can fit in.

Our site permit department has had more applications for smaller events than ever before, so a stroll across the city on a summer’s day may bring you across fetes on parks, street fairs, concerts and who knows what else. Lots of these events are organised by local residents so they’re a great way of getting to know people or getting involved in your local community.

Esther Mars
Bristol City Council