Polperro Art & Music Festival returns for its 19th successful year
The ‘Polperro Art & Music Festival’ returns for its 19th successful year from Saturday 14 - Sunday 22 June. This year’s Festival theme is “Love Polperro” and over the nine days, will yet again see visitors and residents enjoy a range of fantastic live music, art, comedy, dance, drama, poetry and fun!
Other highlights include a dog show, Morris Dancers, village fete, duck race, The Great Polperro Bake-Off and Foodie Friday where local eateries show-case their culinary talents for visitors to sample on Big Green. Thousands flock to the pretty historic fishing village to enjoy the party atmosphere day and night and as an added bonus most of the entertainment is free of charge. The Festival is held throughout the village on Big Green, the pubs, Village Hall, Royal British Legion, The Arts Foundation and Upper Fish Quay. A pay bar is provided on Big Green.
As part of the traditions a new Lord Mayor is appointed and revealed at the start of the Festival. Nathan Toms, the 18th Mayor, will be handing over the responsibility to a new Mayor whose identity is a closely guarded secret until 2:30pm on Saturday 14 June. At 5pm the new Lord Mayor will also get a dunking in the harbour as he or she ‘meets the tide’!
This year the main bands performing are “Orangutan Wheelbarrow” who will get the festival off to a rocking start on the 14 June. The 4 piece popular Tavistock band, are renowned for catering to everyone’s needs from AC/DC to Kings of Leon. “Lost in Space”, who will also play on the Saturday are a 7 piece party band with raunchy female vocals, a full brass section, funky bass, rocking guitar and more percussion that you can shake a stick at! “The Smokin’ Olives” will play on Sunday 15 June and are Newquay’s 4-piece funky, rock and pop, guaranteed to get the party started. Phat Bollard will play on Saturday 21 June and are rapidly building their reputation as the best street band ever. Ending the Festival on an ultimate high will be “Rhythm Machine” delivering energetic, funky, R&B soul classics.
Another big name to appear is Patrick Monahan who will have the crowds in stitches at the comedy night on Wednesday 18 June at the Village Hall. Patrick is famous for ITV’s ‘Splash’ TV show, ITV’s ‘Fake Reaction’, BBC’s ‘Let’s Dance’ and the winner of ITV’s Show Me The Funny.
This year there will be more activities and entertainment for children with a dedicated area on the Upper Fish Quay where events will take place every day. Plymouth based performance artists “Stiltskin” have also been enlisted to perform with Polperro Primary School at Schools Day (Wednesday 18 June).
The Festival has the support of celebrity couple ‘Richard and Judy’ who live locally and are great supporters of the village. Richard was pivotal in the fund-raising of this year’s Festival. The couple will be choosing the winning entries of a short story writing competition and have also arranged to publish the winners’ stories on their Richard and Judy Book Club website.
Jude Mullarkey, Festival Chairman said “Our 19th Polperro Festival is going to be even bigger and better than before with an action packed programme of entertainment and something for all the family. The atmosphere is amazing and the party spirit continues all day and into the night. It’s a wonderful opportunity for visitors to experience our love of Polperro”.
Parking is available at just £4 per day in the Polperro Car Park throughout the nine days. The dates for next year’s 20th Festival are from the 20 – 28 June 2015.
For more information about the Polperro Festival, visit polperrofestival.co.uk.
