Shepley Spring Festival is one of the North’s earliest open air celebrations of music and kick-starts the festival season for Yorkshire.
This year’s event, from Friday to Sunday, May 19 to 21, promises more than 30 live bands on the greenfield site at Marsh Lane, as well as a family ceilidh, a host of activities for children and the chance to see 10 Morris dancing sides in action.
Shepley is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year and has pioneering English traditional folk act Eliza Carthy and her 12-piece Wayward Band headlining on Saturday night.
“We’ve got a real breadth of artists from all over the world, “ says Nikki Hampson, Festival Director. “Ours is one of the earliest festivals in the year on a greenfield site and while we hope for good weather we carry on regardless. Last year it was very wet on the Sunday, but it didn’t stop us.”
In fact, up to 3,000 people turned out in 2016 for the predominantly folk festival. Organisers are hoping for a similar number this year.
Among other acts appearing will be several Radio 2 Folk Award nominees, including Huddersfield-based O’Hooley & Tidow, the duo Megson, and the BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician of the Year Mohsen Amini. Also on the weekend programme are Brighouse singer Roger Davies and the home-grown Shepley Singers.
Shepley is very much a family festival and lays on a wide range of activities for youngsters – everything from circus skills workshops to Lego events. For grown-ups there’s a festival beer tent with craft beers and for craft-lovers there’s a knitting and crochet circle and a project to knit squares for an African charity that provides blankets for vulnerable children.
What are the festival timings?
The festival opens at 3.30pm on Friday and closes at 10pm on Sunday after a final concert on the main stage.
How much does it cost?
A weekend ticket is £90 for adults (£80 concession) and £45 for young people. The under 15s go free. Day tickets are from £25 to £40 full price. There’s also weekend camping available for a small extra charge. It's also possible to buy £5 tickets for showground entrance and certain concerts.
How to get there and parking.
Shepley is on the A629 road between Huddersfield and Sheffield. The village has its own railway station, with services between the two cities. A bus service from the station is being provided by the festival. There is, however, free parking on site in Marsh Lane.
What will the weather be like?
The long-range forecast for the weekend is for mixed, mainly cool weather (no higher than 11 deg C) and some showers. Saturday is likely to be the best day weather-wise.
Where to find out more?
Visit shepleyspringfestival.com for a full line-up of music and activities.
