This annual music festival rooted since 1955 happening in the Coastal Town in Devon is a serious affair of joy and celebration for the locals. The organisers of the biennial festival have been reportedly gushing on how “important” this festival has been for the town.
The 2025 Sidmouth Folk Festival is attracting thousands of visitors and attendees from commencing on Friday, 1 August to the 8th of the month. The festival has 750 events and 200 workshops that have been planned across more than 30 venues.
Artists including Seth Lakeman and Cole Stacey are on the bill along with ceilidhs, storytelling sessions and Morris dancing. The small town has been benefitting with the festival’s hit and the opportunities, said James Garrett, part of the organising team for the festival.
Huge thanks @sidmouthfolk . Heartwarming to be back on home turf, with their crowd in such fine voice. Sharing these songs written in Devon was incredibly special for me. pic.twitter.com/nNRTbOg1jl
— Cole Stacey (@ThisColeStacey) August 3, 2025
“You want to bring the town along with you and help local businesses because it’s been a tough few years,” Mr Garrett told John Acres at Breakfast on BBC Radio Devon. He also added that “You talk to some of the established businesses and hotels and having something that puts Sidmouth on the map in a different way to other seaside towns is a great thing. It pulls different groups of people in and they come back – they’re not just here for the festival, they come back out of season, so it’s really important for the town”, reports BBC.
Garrett also recalls that organising this year old festival was challenging to set up, but it was a worthwhile exercise and had plenty to offer. “You can do a bhangra workshop, you can go and sing in the festival choir, you can go and ceilidh dance outside, you can go to a talk. It’s also one of those festivals where you can walk around town and bump into the artists that are playing and stop and have a chat.”
“There’s not many places like that where the barriers are down and you’ll find some of the top artists are having a pint in the pub or playing a tune around town.”
