Festival’s finished but is still getting its message across
THEY came, they saw and they thrifted in their tens of thousands. Organisers say the weekend’s two-day Festival of Thrift at Kirkleatham, Redcar, attracted 37,000 visitors – about 2,000 more than last year – to the annual celebration of sustainable living.
The main themes of this year’s festival – the seventh – were clean air and the moon landing anniversary, which were marked in a number of shows and activities.
And for a festival with art at its heart, there was also a wide range of performances, workshops and lively debates on environmental and sustainability issues.
The many highlights included the
festival’s family-focused Pink Zone, the site’s cycle hub, emerging and established musicians on the SABIC main stage – including The Mighty Redcar’s Dylan Cartlidge – and workshops offering a range of skills, from spoon carving to lampshade-creating and wild baking to print-making.
Food-lovers tucked into cuisine from independent traders, while combatting “fast fashion” was the central message of the festival’s fashion show Oxglam, where costumes were upcycled and created by volunteers in partnership with Oxfam Darlington and Teesside University’s fashion department.
Throughout the site, small businesses and traders across the region did a roaring trade in upcycled, recycled and sustainable goods.
Festival of Thrift director Stella Hall said the weekend had been a huge success.
“It’s been another magnificent weekend where important messages about
sustainability have been communicated with a light touch and a lot of fun.
“Visitors of every age from across the UK have come along and had a wonderful time at this national event that is now firmly rooted in Redcar.
“It’s been hugely enjoyable and we can’t wait to do it all again next year!”
Although the Festival weekend is over, the event’s wider VIEWPOINTS programme is still ongoing.
Running until Thursday, it offers a display of artworks focused on the theme of clean air that are located across the Tees Valley and include a lung cleaning station, colossal canaries, pavilions where people can ‘Sit, Stop’ and art made with pollution.
Further information about VIEWPOINTS by Festival of Thrift is available at www.festivalofthrift.co.uk/viewpoints
People can register to hear news about next year’s Festival of Thrift at www.festivalofthrift.co.uk