Sark Folk Festival 2011

The second annual Sark Folk Festival takes place on the West Coast, Isle Of Sark, Channel Islands from Friday 1st to Sunday 3rd July 2011.

New festival site

The new festival site is near La Moinerie on the west of the island and affords a larger space for performers. This year there will be three stages: Vermerette, Alligande and Tintageu. The stages are named after rocks that lie in the waters between Sark, Herm and Guernsey, used as navigation markers by seafarers. The site has views over Guernsey and Herm and faces the setting sun. As well as the main festival site, split across two fields, there will be performances at 'The Nook by the Brook', an ancient quarry in the granite cliffs that gently descend down to the shore, below the main festival site.

Line-up

Home-grown talent from the Channel Islands as well as artists from the UK and France, more than forty acts in total including Les Veillees, Ernie Roscouet, Pibau Planed, Crowns, Sarah Joy, Mick Le Huray, Rob Hunter, The Coalbox Generals, Lydia-Jane, James Dumbleton, GU10, Luascadh, The Crowman, Whose Shoes, Phil Capper, Nessi G, 6 Day Riot, Breabach, Emily Smith, Future Trad Collective (Mike McGoldrick, Ian Fletcher, Andy Dinan), James Findlay, The Barley Dogs, Jamie Lee, Scots John, The John Wesley Stone, Hat Fitz & Cara Robinson, Lloyd Yates, Big Sheep, Autumn, The ID Shade, Winkleigh Morris, Oliver Daldry, Chris Walden, Folk on 2, Tonight The Skies, Tom Bliss, Peter Gabriel Byrne, Nathan Le Breton & Janson Bewey, DJ Karmoloji, Claire Daniel, and Space Pirates of Rocquaine.

Tickets

An adult weekend ticket is priced at £50, a weekend concession (Under 18, Student, or OAP, Sark resident) ticket is priced at £30, and children aged under 11 years can attend free. Day tickets are also available Friday or Saturday adult day tickets are priced at £30, concession tickets are £20. An adult Sunday ticket is priced at £20, concession £10. To buy tickets, click here.

Camping

Ticket price does not include camping this is at a nearby campsite area at a price of around £7 per night.

Language

Local language will be a key focus of this year's festival, with Guernsey's language officer, Jan Marquis, lending a helping hand. Festival-goers will have the chance to learn and use phrases while at the festival. These include such helpful phrases as "I'll have a cider", "I'm having fun, me" and "where are the toilets?". Jan will also be holding a workshop in Guernsey French at the festival, and will also be on site to translate whenever needed.

Tunebook

Festival organisers have collated a tunebook of folk tunes. The book is available free to download from the Sark Folk Festival website. Organisers are hoping people will learn a few of the tunes over the next few weeks giving them a common 'musical language' so they can play together at the festival. The goal is that this will lead to more spontaneous sessions over the weekend – one of the highlights of last year's event.

Food and drink

Local seafood will feature heavily on the menu, a hog roast, as well as delicious home-baked cakes to keep you going through the afternoon. There will be specially brewed cider, Bec du Nez, created by James Meller from the Guernsey Rocquettes Cider Company, as well as local Patois ale from local brewery, Randall's.

For budding astronomers

Sark has recently been officially recognised by the International Dark Sky Association. This means the island has been noted for the quality of its night sky – it is the first island ever to achieve this recognition. Sark Folk Festival takes place on a moonless weekend, so it will be a fantastic opportunity to experience the intensity of the Milky Way at first hand.

Best folk beard competition

The festival is out to prove the stereotype by running a competition for the best folk beard. There will be two categories for the competition – best beard (awarded to its owner), and best photograph of a beard (open to non-beard-wearers).

More information will be here when available.

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