Friday 1^st – Sunday 3^rd August 2008 @ Venues across Bristol Harbourside

Before you had to pay, Bristol used to be able to boast that it hosted the largest free festival in the UK in the form of Ashton Court Festival. Long after that holy grail of cider and music died its soggy death though, Bristol can now once again boast to host the largest free festival in the UK – now it’s the Bristol Harbour Festival with in excess of 200,000 visitors a year.

Now in its 37^th year, the Bristol Harbour Festival transforms the harbourside down in Bristol city centre for one weekend in August, brining together and showcasing a rich mix of music and arts, designed to deliver a new experience at every turn and show off our culturally diverse city. With an eclectic range of international, national and local artists, the focus is world music with eight different music stages across the city. Throughout the weekend up to 300 performers will also showcase circus and aerial displays, contemporary and traditional dance, with a circus stage created by Cirque Bijou and New York choreographers creating the new dance area. At the centre of the Harbour Festival are its ships and boats: tall ships, feature vessels and hundreds of private boats from far and wide anchor up for the festival, providing the perfect backdrop to the wealth of entertainment.

Pick of the local bands include performances from Beth Rowley, Phil King, Rachael Dadd, Kid Carpet, Turbowolf, Medallist, The Forster King Band and of course DJ Derek. And if all that wasn’t enough, Saturday will feature the Harbour Festival’s mandatory utterly stunning fireworks display (10pm) set off from the roof of the Industrial Museum in the harbour amongst the tall ships. This is one that’s not to be missed.

www.bristolharbourfestival.co.uk