Homestead Park Festival: Here is Hope invites the people of York to come together for a free weekend of celebration and reconnection with nature, creativity, and community. Set in the historic Homestead Park, the festival will take place over the first weekend of July, bringing artists, musicians, and changemakers to inspire, create, and share magical experiences.
Homestead park was gifted to the people of York by social reformer Seebohm Rowntree, son of Joseph Rowntree. The festival will echo this wonderful tradition of giving back to the community - in years gone by the park held an annual family carnival, and this year this tradition will be revived with Homestead Park Festival: Here is Hope. This celebration will take place in the year the City is remembering the Centenary of Joseph Rowntree.
The festival will create a joyful and magical setting for people of all ages and backgrounds with something for everyone.
Festival highlights include:
Live Music in the Woodland Setting: Enjoy performances from local and nationalartists in the park's enchanting woodland.
Family-Friendly Activities: Participate in breathtaking theatre performances, interactive play and run wild in the park’s temporary woodland playground.
Diverse Speaker’s Programme: Enjoy campfire stories and engage with thought-provoking discussions and workshops on topics ranging from environmental sustainability to practical hope.
Hands-On Workshops: try your hand at nature-based crafts and activities that foster creativity and connection.
Homestead Park Festival: Here is Hope aims to offer unexpected moments of wonder, opportunities to connect with nature and community, and inspire a brighter future through stories, theatre, play, discussions, and workshops.
The festival is free to attend and open to all.
Victoria Hughes from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation tells us: "For 120 years, Homestead Park has been a beloved gathering place for the people of York. Inspired by the park’s early tradition of hosting family carnival weekends, we’re thrilled to present Homestead Park Festival: Here is Hope - which will offer communities the chance toplay, reconnect with nature, with each other, and dream of a brighter future. The festival isn’t just a celebration of the past, it’s the beginning of a new chapter for the park - one that will inspire future generations and demonstrate new possibilities.
"We’re incredibly excited to be partnering with Wild Rumpus, who are the perfect collaborators to help bring this vision to life."
Rowan Cannon, Director, Wild Rumpus says: "As we look ahead with bright hopeful faces towards the summer, there couldn’t be a better time to announce this joyful project - a celebration of Homestead Park as it begins the next part of its journey into a regenerative future.
"We are honoured and excited to be working alongside the Joseph Rowntree Foundation to welcome the people of York, from the doorstep of the park and beyond, to a weekend of hope, talks, workshops, music, performance and wonder.
"We’ll spend a fleeting weekend in the bright future, imagining what the park could become as roots take hold and long-term projects spread their tendrils out from the park into York and beyond."
