IT will be shiver my timbers and all hands on deck in Stratford as the town’s River Festival celebrates its tenth birthday this weekend.
The free family event returns on Saturday and Sunday (June 30 and July 1) with a narrowboat display on the Avon, stalls galore including a craft market, live music, and plenty of refreshments on a forecast scorcher of a weekend.
And even landlubbers will be going head to head in Pirates vs Mermaids at Bell Court shopping centre, including a swashbuckling fancy dress competition, rum-flavoured butter beer, and a screening of Pirates of the Caribbean at Everyman cinema.
There will also be a fireworks display at 10.30pm on Saturday night.
Joe Baconnet, director of festival organisers Stratforward BID, said: “We may be landlubbers here in Stratford, but we every year we celebrate the water we have got with the award-winning River Festival.
“The festival always brings thousands of people to check out our great live music, food and drink, narrowboat display and family-friendly activities.
“Over the past decade the festival has grown each year, and 2018 is no exception. For the tenth year we’re making sure the party spreads through the town centre to make sure visitors get the chance to take in the businesses that fund this fabulous event, whether they’re independent shops, high street names or restaurants and bars.”
