VIDEO: Morecambe Vintage by the Sea pulls estimated 45,000 and record Saturday crowds

Monday, 2 September 2024 12:16

By Greg Lambert @greglam72

Crowds at this year's Morecambe Vintage by the Sea. Photo by Joshua Brandwood

An estimated 45,000 people visited Morecambe for this year's Vintage by the Sea festival including record crowds on the first day.

The event on Morecambe Promenade, in its 11th year, celebrated the iconic music, fashion, film, art, design and dance of the 20th century on Saturday and Sunday.

The vintage festival, centred around the Midland, the Platform and the Promenade Gardens, was blessed with glorious sunny weather on Saturday and Sunday was mainly dry too, with rain only coming late in the afternoon.

People dressed in fashions from the 20s to the 90s to strut their stuff and the Vintage Marketplace at The Platform and the local and regional makers' market in The Midland were huge attractions.

Perfectly preserved classic cars outside the Midland and Ribble Vehicle Preservation Trust’s vintage bus rides from Heysham to Bare also proved very popular.

Image by Robin Zahler

Other events included the iconic Best In Show catwalk, vintage cycle bike rides, and the new Boogie Ballroom with popular classes including Bhangra with Sohan Kailey, the Charleston, Northern Soul and even breakdancing with the nationally acclaimed UC Crew Powered by Hip Hop.

WATCH the Northern Soul class at Vintage by the Sea

"We were absolutely thrilled to see so many thousands and thousands of people in Morecambe this weekend, enjoying not only the joyful festival programme made possible by so many artists and performers, but also to see our audiences take in everything else Morecambe has to offer as so many local cafes, restaurants, bars and shops put on their own Fringe events, ensuring the Promenade has never felt so vibrant," said Elena Jackson from Deco Publique and the festival organising team.

"Vintage by the Sea really is a shared celebration of this place and we’d like to thank each and every person who had a role in making the event happen and who joined as a visitor over the weekend”.

Image by Robin Zahler

This year's festival included many new events, including an 80s-inspired creative space, as visitors joined UK Mobile Studio Let’s Make Art to create jackets with designs inspired by retro neon and geometric patterns, whilst getting into the groove with some 80s tunes at the Silent Disco.

As part of new commission by Deco Publique to celebrate the re-opening of Morecambe Skatepark, Jwllrs x kitchenUNIT presented The Tar Pit at where they hosted learn to skate workshops, deck shaping workshops, screen printing, yoga for skaters, mural paintings, music from the local skate community and popular skate jam on Sunday afternoon.

Image by Robin Zahler.

Mirador and Lancaster University Library presented Jukebox, a nostalgic installation of sound and memory exploring the place jukeboxes hold in local cultural history, whilst Good Things Collective + Friends curated The People’s Bandstand – a joyful celebration of music, crafts and good old-fashioned fun including the Regeneration Game and the Big Gay Sing Along as part of Sunday’s The End of the Pier Variety Show.

Music and performance was also a weekend highlight with a choreographed performance from Bird Rave, Leyland Band at the historic Morecambe Winter Gardens, DJs playing an eclectic mix of Northern Soul, funk and jazz and the Melodrome Stage showcasing a lineup of bands while DJ Paulette headlined an uplifting After Party on Saturday night.

The whole festival programme was complemented by Fringe activity up and down the Promenade from packed events at The Alhambra to a Mod Cafe at Shore Thing, while so many more Morecambe venues programmed content to capture the crowds.

Image from Robin Zahler showing crowds enjoying the festival.

Beyond Radio also hosted our first ever live broadcast from the festival, a 'Decades Roadshow' featuring music from the 1940s right the way through to the 1990s.

This was hosted from the Beyond Radio tent near Laser Rush and Briggs Shoes on the Promenade on Sunday afternoon, and hosted by Miss Harri Deane, Phil McGrath, Roy Ward, Chris Denerley, Sam Cragg and Steve York, with support from Beth Pipe, Duncan Moore, Chris Brookbanks, Luke Edmondson and Beyond Bear.

Sam, dressed as Ginger Spice from The Spice Girls, and Beyond Bear are pictured below at the Eric Morecambe Statue on Sunday.

Vintage by the Sea was co-founded in 2013 by Morecambe-born designer, Wayne Hemingway with Gerardine and Jack Hemingway, Hemingway Design and Morecambe-based art and culture company Deco Publique. It is produced by Deco Publique in partnership with Lancaster City Council.

Vintage by the Sea is supported by Arts Council England, UK Government Shared Prosperity Fund, Lancaster City Council, Morecambe Town Council, Lancashire County Council and a crowdfunding campaign and Morecambe BID. It is sponsored by The Midland Hotel and Taylors Funfairs.

Wayne Hemingway MBE, Gerardine Hemingway MBE and Jack Hemingway launched Vintage Festival in 2010, building festival experiences that have won awards from Visit England, Festival Awards and the London Vintage Awards for events including Vintage Glasgow at Merchant City, A Vintage New Year’s Eve at London’s Southbank, Classic Car Boot Sale and Vintage by the Sea.

You can leave your feedback on this year's Vintage by the Sea HERE.