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Burnley Canal Festival

Shekina Rose, Families Editor

Visit now

Burnley Canal Festival

27 August 2023

Always double check opening hours with the venue before making a special visit.

Free
Burnley Canal Festival 2022
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Enjoy a free, family event at the Burnley Canal Festival this summer, happening next-to and on the water at the newly refurbished Finsley Gate Wharf on Sunday 27 August. Experience Burnley’s unique canal-side heritage and celebrate the special things about Burnley that can sometimes be overlooked!

The festival will be a chance to get involved with lots of family-friendly and creative activities and make some special memories. Get hands on with interactive workshops such as paper flower making, botanical workshops, colouring stations, henna, free face-painting, screen-printing and monster creation (to name a few!). Families will also love the ‘Rag and Tag’ road show, a pop-up scrapstore, studio and stage which invites people of all ages to reuse, create and play!

Watch engaging live ‘walkabout’ performances, including Paris Bubbles, Mother Nature (who is on the hunt to pick up litter),  and the giant sloth! Tap your toes to an array of live music, from Bollywood and jazz to indie folk rock! Be transported along the canal on the water bus, canoes and Super Slow Way’s beautiful library boat, for those of you who love to read!

Younger canal-goers at the Festival might want to have a go at the Towpath Explorers Trail. The trail will take you on a real Burnley canal adventure, revealing some of the canal-side’s hidden and best kept secrets…  But where will you go? What will you find!?

After all that fun, take a moment to amble the Makers Market in the Mile Room, with unique works of art and crafts, fabrics, jewellery, food and drink and so much more to buy for yourself or to take away for someone else.

When you’re ready for a full-on sit down and some tasty food and drink, there’s loads of places available to quench your thirst and fill your tummy, with delicious ice cream, mouth-watering Indian street food and lots more.

Burnley Canal Festival is a fantastic chance for Burnley locals and visitors to get together and celebrate Burnley as a place as well as the arts and creativity thriving here. So for a free, fun day out, head on down to the Burnley Canal Festival at Finsley Gate Wharf, from 11am-5pm.

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