Free Riverside Festival in Leicester on 6-7 June

Leicester’s Riverside Festival returns on Saturday 6 and Sunday 7 June, bringing two days of free, family-friendly music, arts, theatre, craft and heritage activity to the city centre.

The festival starts at 12pm on Saturday, with events spread across Bede Park, the DMU Campus and Castle Gardens. Entry is free, and the programme is aimed at families, music fans and anyone looking for a weekend in Leicester with plenty to wander between.

Music across Bede Park, DMU and Castle Gardens

Bede Park will host the main stage across the weekend. On Saturday evening, THE OLD BOY headlines from 7pm with a DJ set spanning soul, jazz, rare groove, funk, house, garage and hip hop.

Sunday’s Bede Park programme will close with DJ Simon Philip from 6pm. Other main stage appearances include a Tots’ Rave with DJ Juvie and Louisa Darling, melodic grunge from Pretty Dirty Rats, and a collaboration between Nupur Arts and KAINE choir combining Indian dance with African music.

At DMU’s campus, the Cultural eXchanges stage begins on Saturday with the Talent 25 carnival parade. Families taking part in the Talent 25 programme will lead a procession showing upcycled festival costumes.

Across the weekend, the Cultural eXchanges stage will feature dance, music and spoken word from performers including DMU Dance/Moving Together, Syston Swing Band, Curve Youth Dance Group, Sam the Rapper and Mirchi Mob. Cultural eXchanges, DMU’s annual arts and creative writing festival, is being held in collaboration with Riverside and marks its 25th anniversary this year.

Castle Gardens and the DMU Campus will also have acoustic performers and street entertainers through Busk Leicester. A further Castle Gardens stage, curated by BrightSpark Arts, will feature spoken word, music, comedy and dance, while the roaming Beatbox Jukebox will move through the festival.

Hands-on activities and heritage sites

Alongside the live stages, Riverside Festival will include arts, crafts, theatre activities, poetry, storytelling with Leicester Libraries, sports taster sessions and vintage vehicles.

The festival’s arts, craft and theatre programme has expanded with new funding from Arts Council England, giving families more hands-on activities to try across the weekend. For readers planning more low-cost days out in the city, our guide to affordable family activities in Leicester has more local ideas.

Several heritage sites will also open during the festival. Visitors can get discounted entry to Jewry Wall over the weekend. St Mary de Castro Church, one of Leicester’s oldest buildings, will be open too, with bells ringing at 12pm on Saturday to mark the start of the festival and a choral evensong at 5pm on Sunday.

Newarke Houses Museum, which is free to enter, will be open on Saturday. Heritage sites on the DMU campus, including the Great Hall at Leicester Castle, Trinity Chapel, the herb garden and the DMU Museum, will also open over the weekend, with additional activities at the DMU Gallery.

What to know before going

The full end time has not been stated in the source material. Leicester City Council says further details, including the full programme, accessibility and travel information, are available through the Visit Leicester Riverside Festival information page.

Cllr Vi Dempster, Leicester’s assistant city mayor for culture, said the festival is expected to welcome thousands of people to the city centre for music, art and activities. Dr Jacqui Norton, Associate Professor at DMU, said Cultural eXchanges would showcase the work of final year Arts and Festivals Management students.

Source: Leicester City Council