Folk Week takes place in a beautiful town with sandy beaches, a timeless Edwardian atmosphere and lots of cute shops, buzzy restaurants and vibrant cafes.
It’s a traditional folk music festival – and that remains right at the heart of Folk Week. Over the past 55 years, the festival has become a magnet for people who love authentic music and the opportunity to meet up with an extended family of every generation. Our festival-goers love discovering new bands, seeing old favourites and chancing upon things you would never expect to see at a folk festival!
The Festival Campsite is located at a local school – and one of the benefits of coming to this chalky corner of East Kent is that the fields are free-draining – so no Glastonbury style mud in Broadstairs!
Overlooking the beach on the clifftop Victoria Gardens, the Craft and Music Fair has a huge variety of ceramics, clothing, musical instruments, paintings, jewellery and gifts and is free entry. The Festival bar the Jack Hamilton is located here, sponsored by Shepherd Neame, run by volunteers and a great place to catch up with festival friends.
And next door is the bandstand, a totally free venue which hosts the ever-popular Hobby Horse Club with the madcap Hooden Horses and Clarence the Dragon.
Broadstairs Folk Week is a registered charity and a company limited by guarantee that depends on a combination of ticket income, public grants, commercial sponsorship and individual donations from the Friends of Folk Week and other fund-raising such as collections on the street to exist and to stay in the town and not become a green-field site festival outside of Broadstairs.
