Sidmouth Folk Festival 'huge' for seaside town

Sidmouth Folk Festival starts on Friday and runs until 8 August

An annual music festival has become "really important" for a Devon coastal town, organisers have said.

Thousands of people are expected to attend the 2025 Sidmouth Folk Festival, which starts on Friday and runs until 8 August.

Organisers said 750 events and 200 workshops 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.

James Garrett, part of the organising team for the festival, said it was "huge" for Sidmouth and helped give the town's businesses a boost.

"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.

"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."

Thousands of people are expected to attend the 2025 Sidmouth Folk Festival

He added the festival - which started in 1955 - 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."