Southport Festival returns this weekend

Southport Festival returns this weekend for the fourth year and there is lots of great free activities across the town centre.

Funded and pulled together by Southport BID in partnership with Sefton Council, Southport Contemporary Arts and a team of local performers and artists, the festival promises a brilliant weekend of entertainment for all.  Here is our guide to what to look out for

Free arts and crafts for every generation

Look out across the town centre for some of these superb activities, all free to join.  

On Saturday, Nevill Street will be turned into a work of art as Urban Canvas use a 500-year-old chalking technique to create a giant mural on the pavement. Everybody can get involved and colour a section or simply keep passing by to see it grow throughout the day.

Younger art lovers will love the Mermaid Garden creative zone in the gardens outside Sainsbury’s with all manner of interactive art stations, storytelling and music throughout the weekend.

For grow ups, there will be pottery making and giant knitting have-a-go stations in Town Hall Gardens and pop up exhibitions in various locations. There is also a creative writing workshop and a photography trail around the town.

Enjoy great live music

The festival has not one but three superb headliners for 2019 – 90’s soul, dance and pop legend Heather Small, the iconic Soul ll Soul and the sublime Elkie Brooks this year.

Music lovers can also catch live acts in venues throughout the town, including The Guest House, Remedy, Tap & Bottles and Tiger Bar. The bandstand will also be converted to a prosecco garden courtesy of The Vincent with live DJ’s Saturday and Sunday.

There will be a community music and dance stage all weekend on Chapel Street with brilliant performances from local groups such as ST Arts, Loreto Bamber, Solo Latino and more. The show will be hosted by former Heartbeat actor David Lonsdale and judge on the BBC show ‘All Together Now’, Sharon Ashton.

Great children’s entertainment

Catch free performance the children will love all around the town.  

Fabularium’s Tale of Reynard the Fox will feature storytelling, puppetry, original live music and The Fabularium’s bespoke animal headpieces.

The Mad Hatter’s tea party is a crazy, fun filled, mad cap shows full of games and sing-a-longs and of course lashings of tea! It’s an event not to be missed! Full of audience participation and on in Town Hall gardens Sunday.

There are two side splitting comedy shows for little people in the Children’s Library put on by the team behind the comedy festival and both free to attend.  Saturday the Submercycles return for everyone to have a ride and look out too for the giant flower and butterfly making their way around the town!

Big laughs

Big Comedy hosts a full-on night of comedy tomorrow night at The Waterfront with two award winning comedians to help start the weekend with big belly laughs.

The festivals now famous pub crawls return on Sunday to round the weekend off with lol moments in five mystery venues. Join the myrthical mystery tour as it starts at RA Bar in the Northern Quarter – who knows where the night will end from there?