Guernsey Press

Sark Folk Festival organisers to look elsewhere in future

SARK Folk Festival organisers are planning other events after they confirmed this year's will be the last in the island for at least a few years.

Published
Sark Folk Festival 2017. (Picture by Lydia Bourne)

The festival sees hundreds of people descend on the island each summer with tickets selling out quickly.

But from next year, the organisers are proposing to hold folk and roots music events at different locations around the Bailiwick.

Organising committee chairman Josh de Kooker said they still planned to capture the magic of festival, even if they moved.

‘We are constantly reviewing what we offer for the Sark Folk Festival and each year we try to balance recreating the same magic of previous years’ festivals with innovating and improving what we offer,’ he said.

‘After much soul-searching by the organising committee, we decided that this is the right time to free ourselves up to try something new. We are very aware that the accessibility of the Sark Folk Festival has limitations for some people who would like to attend, and the challenge of putting on a festival in such a beautiful, but remote, location gets harder every year as the festival grows in its ambitions.

‘We also need to find some new inspiration for ourselves as a group of musician/volunteers, and we are really excited about some of the ideas we are already looking at for next year.’

The festival was first held in 2010 and since then has donated £25,000 to Sark charities. The event is organised by a group of volunteer musicians on a not-for-profit basis.

‘Having built up a healthy reserve over the years, we have a good financial basis to invest in future events,’ Mr de Kooker said.

‘We all love Sark very much and have been extremely grateful to the residents of Sark over the last ten years for being so supportive of the event and working so hard over the festival weekends to make all the festival-goers feel so welcome in their island.’

While the organisers have not ruled out a return of the Sark Folk Festival, they have confirmed the three-day festival will not be making an appearance for the next few years.

In 2018 the festival took a break. The event is returning on 5 July this year, with headliner Kate Rusby and 18 other acts from around the world, and 36 acts from the Channel Islands.

Festival director Paul Le Huray said: ‘We are very conscious that this will be the last Sark Folk Festival for a few years, so we want the 2019 festival to be a really special one.

'We have an amazing programme of music for the weekend and we all have our fingers crossed for some good festival weather.’