26 March 2024
A date for your diary… Our FREE, family friendly Festival will be back on Sunday 25 August 2024, 11-5, at Finsley Gate Wharf. Make sure to join us for BCF24! More information about the day to follow soon…
29 August 2023
We had a great day on Sunday at #BCF23. Thank you to organisers Mid Pennine Arts and Super Slow Way and our hosts at Finsley Gate Wharf, plus all our funders & supporters (more details here). Thanks too, to all the volunteers, artists, crew and the visitors for turning up in their thousands, despite the slightly dodgy weather! We will have lots of images to share over the next few days in our Facebook album.
24 August 2023
We have an exciting last minute addition to the Festival… Briercliffe Fairies
Burnley Youth Theatre are bringing a short piece of devised theatre based on Lancashire folklore to #BCF23. A group of 11-18 year old performers have taken inspiration from legendary pioneering performance company Welfare State International, who were based in Burnley in the 1970s where the youth theatre now stands. 1.45pm in front of the Music Stage. Funded by the Heritage Lottery.
21 August 2023
PLEASE NOTE: Changes to the fixture schedule mean that Burnley FC are playing at home on Festival day. Kick off at 2pm. This is likely to mean more traffic and more people using the car parks. Please give yourself plenty of time to get to the Festival, especially if you’re wanting to take in one of the timed performances/activities.
14 August 2023
17 July 2023
Support our fundraiser and help ensure a full and free festival this year and next. We’ve got lots happening this year, but we could have more. We always have more plans than funds, so we’ve taken the opportunity to launch a crowd funder as part of Crowd Fund Lancashire. If we can show enough support Lancashire County Council may pledge up to 50% of what we are trying to raise. We need to show just how popular the Festival is, and the high level of community support we receive. Can you help by giving £2? (That’s the minimum pledge but you can give more if you can afford to.) We want to add more activities to this year and get a flying start for next, keeping every performance and activity free and open to all. Please help us if you can. Follow the link to add your support. Thank you
Burnley Canal Festival 2023 (spacehive.com
6 July 2023
Things are coming along nicely! Please do get in touch if you have somewhere to display posters and leaflets.
17 April 2023
We’ll be back on Sunday 27 August 2023. Watch this space!
30 August 2022
There were traffic jams on the towpath, and some strange craft on the water, as the Festival returned after an enforced absence of three years. More than 5,000 visitors came through the gates of Finsley Gate Wharf, and enjoyed a wide variety of free, have-a-go workshop activities, a music stage, walkabout performers, a purveyor of giant bubbles and even a pair of outsize dodos. Families followed an explorers’ quest along the towpath, took rides on a trip boat or messed around in canoes. The Festival was even visited by a mysterious golden barge, named Opal’s Comet.
Nick Hunt, Creative Director of Mid Pennine Arts, a partner in the Festival, said ‘We are delighted to be back after such a long and challenging time for everyone. We’re especially pleased to be able to introduce Festival goers to this lovely new facility at Finsley Gate Wharf. We were blessed with the weather, and we couldn’t be happier with the fantastic support we received. Seeing crowds of people exploring up and down the towpath makes all the hard work worthwhile. We’ll be getting back to work with our partners to learn from this one, and make BCF 2023 the best festival it can be.’
“A brilliant time had. 10 out of 10. Would recommend!” Festival attender, 2022
26 August 2022
24 August 2022
14 August 2022
Two weeks to go!
July 2022
This year’s poster. If you have a place you could display these for us, or somewhere for leaflets, please email us and we will get some to you.
July 2022
We are back on Sunday 28th August from 11am to 5pm at the beautifully restored Finsley Gate Wharf. We have one very special day for you with everything that makes this FREE Family Friendly Festival such a fun event. We hope you will join us!
June 2022
Exciting plans afoot for 2022. Watch this space for more details coming soon!
April 2021
We don’t think that a full festival is possible for 2021, but we are working on small scale, family friendly, activities for late summer.
18 August 2020
With no possibility of a Burnley Canal Festival on the forthcoming Bank Holiday weekend, the BCF partners want to give Festival followers an update on plans for the future.
Last year, while building work took over the Festival’s main site, organisers were able to compensate with a ‘Meanwhile’ series of towpath events through the autumn. Current circumstances, however, make this option much more difficult for autumn 2020.
So organisers Mid Pennine Arts and partners want to make clear that there are no plans for any ‘Meanwhile on the Towpath’ events for this September/October. The continuing local lockdowns, and uncertainty over conditions in the near future, mean that the safety and wellbeing of participants and public must take priority. Instead, they are starting now to plan for the full return of the Festival proper in August 2021.
Nick Hunt, Creative Director of lead partner Mid Pennine Arts, said:
‘The Festival is a hugely popular, celebration event and we know how much it is valued by local businesses, local families and visitors to Burnley alike. In recent years we have seen up to 12,000 people over the weekend, and we are committed to bringing those brilliant traffic jams back to Burnley’s lovely towpath.
Next year, we will be celebrating the major new developments at our main site, Sandygate Square, with our partners UCLan showing off their expanding university provision around Victoria Mill. There will also be new developments taking shape around Canal & River Trust’s marina site at Finsley Gate.
We are delighted too that our partners Super Slow Way have confirmed their support for the next two years of the Festival. There is so much to look forward to, so we’re getting started early to do everything we can to make Burnley Canal Festival 2021 the best it can be.’
Conditions permitting, the next Burnley Canal Festival will take place on 28 and 29 August 2021.
In the meantime, we hope you stay safe, and we look forward to seeing you next year.
16 December 2019
See our film from the Weavers’ Quest in September…
https://vimeo.com/378858792
17 September 2019
We had a brilliant day for the Towpath Explorers Weavers’ Quest last Saturday. Read more about it on the Meanwhile on the Towpath… page.
11 September 2019
Do you know your bombazine from your drabbit, or your dimity from your scutcher? Why not join us this Saturday (14 September) for the Weavers Quest 2019 and find out! The games are prepared, the Towpath Explorers are prepared, now we just need YOU to play the game. It’s FREE to take part, to find out more and to book visit the Meanwhile on the towpath… page.
27 August 2019
Booking has opened for the Towpath Explorers Weavers Quest 2019! Join us for a very special event and see if you can make it to the top of the leader board! The Quest is an immersive family adventure, a playful journey inspired by the history of the Weavers’ Triangle. Players will enjoy a magical experience as they follow a guided trail, meeting some interesting characters and undertaking challenges along the way. It’s FREE to take part but you need to book, to find out more visit the Meanwhile on the towpath… page.
31 July 2019
Missing the canal festival already? We are! There’s no Burnley Canal Festival in 2019 but we will be back! Meanwhile, if you are looking for some family friendly and FREE OF CHARGE activities as summer drifts into autumn, come and join us! Something is happening along the towpath… Explore the Meanwhile on the towpath… page to find out more!
30 May 2019
Today we announce that Burnley Canal Festival will not take place this year, but take a short, enforced break. We are delighted to confirm, though, that the very popular, national award-winning event will be back. Massive regeneration and change at all three key Festival sites has taken this out of our hands for 2019. We have thoroughly explored all the alternatives, in an effort to not disappoint thousands of supporters, but now we look ahead, and start to plan the next Burnley Canal Festival. With strong commitment from all our partners, and a renewed, future canalside to explore, we are confident it will be the best BCF yet.
Meanwhile, watch out for news soon of some interim family activities to help plug the BCF gap in 2019!
20 September 2018
The Festival has won a national Living Waterways Award! We were very proud to receive the award at a ceremony in Birmingham on behalf of all the partners, sponsors, supporters and volunteers. The Canal & River Trust commissioned a short film for all those short listed to be shown at the ceremony. Click here to see ours.
3 August 2018
Free Family Festival Returns, with New Sponsors and a New Look. The Festival organisers are pleased to announce detailed plans as Burnley Canal Festival returns for a weekend of canalside delights. Read our press release.
20 July 2018
The wonderful weather we’ve all been enjoying is unfortunately causing some problems for the canal system. At this point we are aware that the Canal & River Trust have restricted lock use on the Leeds & Liverpool Canal, and will, from the end of July, close some locks. If these closures stay in place until the Festival it will affect the KENNET and some of the other boats planning to come to the Festival. Festival organisers rarely wish for rain, but we’d love it if there could be lots now and then have the brilliant sunshine back at the end of August! Much as the boats, and boaters, will be missed we will still have a fabulous Festival, with lots of other things to see and do. We’ll update this information if the situation changes.
July 2018
We are delighted to announce that the Festival is a finalist in the national Living Waterways Awards! A film crew will be at the Festival to make a short film to show at the Birmingham based awards ceremony in September. Make sure you come along to the Festival and help us show the country how wonderful this aspect of Burnley is.
June 2018
Great news! We will be joined for the weekend by the KENNET. KENNET is the only surviving Leeds & Liverpool Canal short boat open to the public and travelling along the canal carrying its ‘cargo’ of exhibitions and displays about the canal’s heritage. Short boats were once the prime movers of freight on the canal. Out of an original fleet of over one thousand short boats only about 30 still exist; many have moved away from the canal and the majority have been converted into leisure boats and homes. Make sure to go on board to see the fascinating exhibitions and to talk with the knowledgeable volunteers from the Leeds Liverpool Canal Society – Friends of Kennet.
June 2018
Here’s our first piece of print for 2018, an A5 leaflet, we hope you like it. If you know somewhere that will display some leaflets, or the posters that will be coming soon, we’d love to hear from you. With your help we can get the word out far and wide! Please get in touch by email.
November 2017
Although we didn’t win, we were delighted to be Lancashire Tourism Awards finalists for the second year running, maybe 2018 will be our year!
June 2022
Exciting plans afoot for 2022. Watch this space for more details coming soon!
April 2021
We don’t think that a full festival is possible for 2021, but we are working on small scale, family friendly, activities for late summer.
18 August 2020
With no possibility of a Burnley Canal Festival on the forthcoming Bank Holiday weekend, the BCF partners want to give Festival followers an update on plans for the future.
Last year, while building work took over the Festival’s main site, organisers were able to compensate with a ‘Meanwhile’ series of towpath events through the autumn. Current circumstances, however, make this option much more difficult for autumn 2020.
So organisers Mid Pennine Arts and partners want to make clear that there are no plans for any ‘Meanwhile on the Towpath’ events for this September/October. The continuing local lockdowns, and uncertainty over conditions in the near future, mean that the safety and wellbeing of participants and public must take priority. Instead, they are starting now to plan for the full return of the Festival proper in August 2021.
Nick Hunt, Creative Director of lead partner Mid Pennine Arts, said:
‘The Festival is a hugely popular, celebration event and we know how much it is valued by local businesses, local families and visitors to Burnley alike. In recent years we have seen up to 12,000 people over the weekend, and we are committed to bringing those brilliant traffic jams back to Burnley’s lovely towpath.
Next year, we will be celebrating the major new developments at our main site, Sandygate Square, with our partners UCLan showing off their expanding university provision around Victoria Mill. There will also be new developments taking shape around Canal & River Trust’s marina site at Finsley Gate.
We are delighted too that our partners Super Slow Way have confirmed their support for the next two years of the Festival. There is so much to look forward to, so we’re getting started early to do everything we can to make Burnley Canal Festival 2021 the best it can be.’
Conditions permitting, the next Burnley Canal Festival will take place on 28 and 29 August 2021.
In the meantime, we hope you stay safe, and we look forward to seeing you next year.
16 December 2019
See our film from the Weavers’ Quest in September…
https://vimeo.com/378858792
17 September 2019
We had a brilliant day for the Towpath Explorers Weavers’ Quest last Saturday. Read more about it on the Meanwhile on the Towpath… page.
11 September 2019
Do you know your bombazine from your drabbit, or your dimity from your scutcher? Why not join us this Saturday (14 September) for the Weavers Quest 2019 and find out! The games are prepared, the Towpath Explorers are prepared, now we just need YOU to play the game. It’s FREE to take part, to find out more and to book visit the Meanwhile on the towpath… page.
27 August 2019
Booking has opened for the Towpath Explorers Weavers Quest 2019! Join us for a very special event and see if you can make it to the top of the leader board! The Quest is an immersive family adventure, a playful journey inspired by the history of the Weavers’ Triangle. Players will enjoy a magical experience as they follow a guided trail, meeting some interesting characters and undertaking challenges along the way. It’s FREE to take part but you need to book, to find out more visit the Meanwhile on the towpath… page.
31 July 2019
Missing the canal festival already? We are! There’s no Burnley Canal Festival in 2019 but we will be back! Meanwhile, if you are looking for some family friendly and FREE OF CHARGE activities as summer drifts into autumn, come and join us! Something is happening along the towpath… Explore the Meanwhile on the towpath… page to find out more!
30 May 2019
Today we announce that Burnley Canal Festival will not take place this year, but take a short, enforced break. We are delighted to confirm, though, that the very popular, national award-winning event will be back. Massive regeneration and change at all three key Festival sites has taken this out of our hands for 2019. We have thoroughly explored all the alternatives, in an effort to not disappoint thousands of supporters, but now we look ahead, and start to plan the next Burnley Canal Festival. With strong commitment from all our partners, and a renewed, future canalside to explore, we are confident it will be the best BCF yet.
Meanwhile, watch out for news soon of some interim family activities to help plug the BCF gap in 2019!
20 September 2018
The Festival has won a national Living Waterways Award! We were very proud to receive the award at a ceremony in Birmingham on behalf of all the partners, sponsors, supporters and volunteers. The Canal & River Trust commissioned a short film for all those short listed to be shown at the ceremony. Click here to see ours.
3 August 2018
Free Family Festival Returns, with New Sponsors and a New Look. The Festival organisers are pleased to announce detailed plans as Burnley Canal Festival returns for a weekend of canalside delights. Read our press release.
20 July 2018
The wonderful weather we’ve all been enjoying is unfortunately causing some problems for the canal system. At this point we are aware that the Canal & River Trust have restricted lock use on the Leeds & Liverpool Canal, and will, from the end of July, close some locks. If these closures stay in place until the Festival it will affect the KENNET and some of the other boats planning to come to the Festival. Festival organisers rarely wish for rain, but we’d love it if there could be lots now and then have the brilliant sunshine back at the end of August! Much as the boats, and boaters, will be missed we will still have a fabulous Festival, with lots of other things to see and do. We’ll update this information if the situation changes.
July 2018
We are delighted to announce that the Festival is a finalist in the national Living Waterways Awards! A film crew will be at the Festival to make a short film to show at the Birmingham based awards ceremony in September. Make sure you come along to the Festival and help us show the country how wonderful this aspect of Burnley is.
June 2018
Great news! We will be joined for the weekend by the KENNET. KENNET is the only surviving Leeds & Liverpool Canal short boat open to the public and travelling along the canal carrying its ‘cargo’ of exhibitions and displays about the canal’s heritage. Short boats were once the prime movers of freight on the canal. Out of an original fleet of over one thousand short boats only about 30 still exist; many have moved away from the canal and the majority have been converted into leisure boats and homes. Make sure to go on board to see the fascinating exhibitions and to talk with the knowledgeable volunteers from the Leeds Liverpool Canal Society – Friends of Kennet.
June 2018
Here’s our first piece of print for 2018, an A5 leaflet, we hope you like it. If you know somewhere that will display some leaflets, or the posters that will be coming soon, we’d love to hear from you. With your help we can get the word out far and wide! Please get in touch by email.
November 2017
Although we didn’t win, we were delighted to be Lancashire Tourism Awards finalists for the second year running, maybe 2018 will be our year!
burnleycanalfestival.org 