Each year our small seaside town, on the beautiful Jurassic coast of Dorset, fills up with hundreds of colourful dancers and the town resonates to the sound of bells jingling, sticks thwacking and excellent music.
The beating heart of the festival is on Sandpit Field; where there’s the main marquee, craft fair, food stalls, first aid and the beer tent (of course). This is where you’ll see the headline bands and evening concerts. Some concerts are free and others you need to buy tickets for (we have to pay artists and for the equipment hire).
The Morris dancers are the most colourful part of the festival. They perform throughout the day on Saturday and Sunday; stop and watch them for free. As Dorset Life put it in 2017 – “this is where Rappers meet Mollies and Fools flirt with belly dancers, dancers in clogs performing step dances, and Cotswold dancers from Dorset rub shoulders with traditional Slovak dancers, swords are drawn and sticks primed for a procession through town.”
There are also various workshops and singalongs around the town. Some of these are free, others you’ll need to buy tickets for. Here’s a map of all the locations.
The Festival is self-funded and run solely by volunteers. If we manage to create a small surplus we donate it to local good causes.
We rely on your support, please volunteer to help and / or donate.
