The 14th Gate To Southwell Festival will be held at a new location in September 2021. The new site is a pretty little village outside Southwell in Kirklington.
The 2020 festival got canceled due to the worldwide pandemic. The organizers of the folk, root, and acoustic music festival from the UK, are quite hopeful for the next year’s festival. They hope it will go smoothly starting from Thursday, September 2nd to Sunday, September 5th.
They have already released the list of the performers in the first wave of the festival. The performers are Award-winner folk band The Breath featuring the BBC Folksinger of the Year Rioghnach Connolly, Gigspanner Big Band, Anxo Lorenzo Band, Spiers & Boden, roots band Imar, English folk singer Chris Wood, root group from Madrid Track Dogs, Maroon Town, Scottish folk band Talisk, and many more. The comedian Dan the Hat, and family entertainer Becky’s Baby Bops, Mark the storyteller, and Toddle Bops will also be performing at the festival.
Festival Director Mike Kirrage said that the news of next year’s festival at a ‘beautiful rural location’ will lift everyone’s mood who are having it tough this year. He confirmed that they have already made bookings for the festivals and promises to feature familiar faces in the program.
The organizers said that the new location will be providing a lot more space for camping. The festival welcomes well-behaved dogs in the main arena and on the campsite free of cost. The beautiful Robin Hood Way linking Kirklington to Southwell offers a great walking experience for the campers. They are also providing a bus service from Southwell to the festival site.
The organizers have already made preparation for Covid restrictions and regulations for the 2021 festival. They are hopeful that by September next year things will be better and people will be able to enjoy multiple music stages and dancing like every year. They plan to offer food and drink stalls, workshops, and children’s entertainment as well.
Gate To Southwell Festival is financially assisted by the Arts Council and Newark & Sherwood District Council. The organizers reimbursed all the ticket buyers and traders after they canceled this year’s festival.
Mike Kirrage said that they agreed upon September next year rather than July to ensure everything goes smoothly. He said that there will be ‘rules limiting ticket sales.’ They are re-thinking the stages and layout. And he thinks that they will have to maintain social distancing ‘to some extent.’ As a member of the Association of Festival Organisers (AFO), he assures everyone that everything will be fine at the next year’s festival.
The tickets will be available soon on their official website.