Kentish Express Ashford & District
Thousands expected at weekend folk festival
The Tenterden Folk Festival 2015 is here.
It’s taken months of planning, organisation on a military scale and an army of volunteers.
Festival director Alan Castle is relaxed as the town starts to welcome visitors from across the UK and beyond, including from Belgium and France.
Persistent rain in the weeks before the event led to fears of flooding at the campsite fields – and a tractor will be still be on standby should a deluge make the ground impassable to vehicles.
After last year’s downpour, just as morris dancers filled the streets for the opening parade, Alan is hoping that this year the sun will shine.
Around 35 morris sides have already registered and tickets were being bought on the festival’s website by people from across the country.
Alan said: “We’ve sold tickets to people living in places from Northampton to Cornwall who want to come and enjoy a festival with a difference. There’s a really laidback atmosphere to the weekend and we don’t get any trouble.
“It attracts a real mixture of people from different generations and many of them book into hotels, B&Bs and campsites in Tenterden, Cranbrook, Ashford and Rye. Lots of places are fully booked because the festival is so popular.”
Mr Castle said organisers were expecting between 4,000 to 5,000 people to visit the town for the four-day celebration that includes a barn dance, concerts, music sessions, a craft fair, street stalls and dance displays.
With venues ranging from St Mildred’s Church and Tenterden Town Hall to the Woolpack pub and the Indulgence Cake and Coffee House, the whole town will be playing a part in the celebration.
But it is the parade which is the big attraction for many when morris dancersmake their way through the town centre on Saturday at 3pm. The festival also attracts tdancers from across the UK, Slovakia and the Appalachian mountains of North America.
The Tenterden Folk Festival takes place from today (Thursday) until this Sunday.
For full details of activities on offer visit the website at http:// tenterdenfolkfestival.org.uk/
‘Lots of places are fully booked because the festival is so popular’