The countdown is on to Holmfirth Festival of Folk 2024, which runs from Friday May 10 to Sunday May 12.
There has been a folk festival in Holmfirth for more than four decades – in fact, 2024 will be the 46th.
The festival is community-based involving schools, local talent, most businesses in the town and, of course, a small band of volunteers.
Income is tiny compared to most festivals on the circuit and comes mainly from sponsorship, grants, public collections, programme sales and ticket sales for the concerts, which are held in the Civic Hall.
Many visitors to the festival come for the buzzing atmosphere that the many Morris dancers bring.
Holmfirth Festival of Folk. Image by: Huddersfield Hub photographer SEAN DOYLE
This year there will be 25 different Morris sides attending over the course of the weekend, bringing much colour and music to the streets.
The dance programme is organised by a long-standing member of the Slubbing Billys North West Morris side, which is based in Slaithwaite, and practises every Tuesday at Slaithwaite Community Centre. The Slubbing Billys are pictured in the main image (top).
On Saturday, dancing starts at 10.30am and continues through the day leading up to the grand procession, at 3.30pm, culminating in a spectacular show dance performance in Victoria Park overlooking the town centre.
Then it starts all over again on Sunday morning at 10.30am!
If you want to have a dance yourself, there will be a French music and dance session on Friday evening, a ceilidh on Saturday evening and a family ceilidh on Sunday afternoon. There’s also have-a-go Maypole dancing from 12 noon on Sunday.
There are also plenty of other family-friendly activities going on especially based at the Methodist Church and Memorial Gardens.
All in all a great weekend to look forward to!
Click here to buy tickets and for details of the event line up
What’s On in Huddersfield in May 2024 with concerts, shows, music, street food and great vibes
