East Anglia’s “new kid on the block” festival FOLKEAST has been nominated in the 2016 UK Festival Awards.
The three day festival returned to Suffolk for the fifth year this summer, bringing thousands of visitors to the glorious 300-acre estate of 16th century Glemham Hall, the home of Major Philip Hope-Cobbold, between August 19-21.
“There was nothing to top FolkEast. Suffused with good vibrations, quirky, charming, and possessed of a joie de vivre that even Sunday’s rain couldn’t dampen, this was a festival that got almost everything right.” – R2 Magazine, Most Memorable Festival Experience
The brainchild of Blaxhall-based husband and wife team Becky and John Marshall-Potter, the burgeoning and singular homegrown festival is nominated in the Best Small Festival category (events of under 10,000 capacity).
The UK Festival Awards, now in their 13th year, have numerous categories with an awards ceremony to be held at The Roundhouse, London on November 28. They were established to provide ‘an opportunity to recognise the hard work, vision and creativity of the nation’s beloved festival industry’.
John Marshall-Potter says,
“We’re delighted to be in with a shout at Best Small Festival – this year’s FolkEast was our best on record.”
FolkEast packed a punch with no less than seven 2016 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards nominees and winners (including irrepressible patrons The Young ‘uns) and boasted three powerhouse band headliners – the musical whirlwind that is Eliza Carthy’s Wayward Band, a rare appearance by seven-piece Blowzabella and an exclusive UK festival performance by Irish supergroup Usher’s Island.
The Marshall-Potters, known for their quirkiness and innovation, also came up trumps with two festival firsts – an exclusive duo performance by folk legends Peter Knight (ex Steeleye Span) and John Spiers (Bellowhead) and a moving main stage performance by The Young’uns and Aldeburgh Young Musicians in a special show marking the songs of late Suffolk singer Bob Hart.
Rekindling the ancient Eastfolk moots on the Glemham Hall estate where for three days a year the folk from the East would meet at harvest time for “a bit of a do”, FolkEast has Suffolk running through it like letters in a stick of rock – from its locally sourced fare in The Imagined Suffolk Food Village to its festival ales from Lowestoft brewery Green Jack, its own newspaper The Eastfolk Chronicle and its Suffolk Punch horses.
“Rather like a cross between Cambridge Folk Festival and a very large village fete – it feels like something that has been there since the Middle Ages” – Folkcast
Its six stages include St Andrew’s Church, the open air Sunset Stage and the hidden woodland Soapbox Stage which is run entirely by solar power from the solar double decker bus. In Suffolk’s 2016 ‘Creating the Greenest County’ Awards, FolkEast were runners up in the Sustainable Tourism category.
On board this year as a media partner were BBC Radio Suffolk who chose FolkEast as their Suffolk festival for 2016.
Next year’s FolkEast will take place at Glemham Hall from August 18-20, 2017. For more information or to book visit www.folkeast.co.uk.
You can vote for FolkEast online at www.festivalawards.com.
