Cost a major factor for any future folk festival

A major folk festival that was forced to cancel could still return in 2026 but with changes to keep it financially viable, councillors were told.

Cambridge City Council has been reviewing the future of the city's folk festival, held at Cherry Hinton Hall, which was due to celebrate its 60th anniversary this year.

The authority has organised free and ticketed Folk in the City events at the same venue this summer instead.

Councillors were given an update on the festival at a scrutiny committee meeting on Tuesday, ahead of a cabinet meeting later this month when a decision on the event's future is expected to be made.

Cambridge Folk Festival began in 1965 and over the years has seen performances from international stars such as Van Morrison, Billy Bragg and Sinead O'Connor.

Officers told the meeting the outdoor festival industry was "tough" at the moment, with increasing costs and lower ticket sales making running the folk festival in the same way more "financially challenging".

They were still working on their report that would include recommendations for the event's future, but said the likely decision cabinet would be asked to make was to agree to continue the festival in 2026.

The report would include information about any potential investment needed in the first year for a possible new event format, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

Councillors from Labour and the Liberal Democrats shared concerns the full officer report and the consultants' report had not been made available to them for scrutiny ahead of the cabinet meeting later this month.

Labour councillor Dave Baigent said: "We lost the folk festival this year because officers never passed information to executive councillors that they were cancelling the folk festival, and everybody found themselves embarrassed because it was then too late to have a folk festival.

"I would have thought that officers would have been a bit more aware of how interested we will be on this particular topic."

Liberal Democrat Olaf Hauk suggested the city council looked at using some of the "neglected spaces" around Cambridge for festival events, highlighting in particular Hobsons Square.

For the Green Party, Jean Glasberg said if people were not buying tickets due to economic hardship, then changing the format of the festival could make it more inclusive, and could help get more local groups involved.

Follow Cambridgeshire news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.