Wartime Spitfire to fly over Morecambe Bay for 10th anniversary vintage festival

Monday, 14 August 2023 14:43

By Greg Lambert @greglam72

A wartime Spitfire aircraft will be part of the 2023 vintage festival

A Spitfire plane will fly over Morecambe Promenade to mark 10 years of the town's vintage festival.

The iconic wartime aircraft will soar over the Bay, weather permitting, during the free family festival which takes place on September 2 and 3.

The festival, which celebrates 20th century culture, was founded in 2013 by designer and TV personality Wayne Hemingway and his family, and Morecambe-based arts company Deco Publique.

Since then the event has drawn big crowds of visitors and residents to the town, for entertainment centred around the Midland and the Platform.

The first festival was a one day event and attracted 6,000 people and by 2014, 40,000 visitors attended.

Last year, 45,000 people enjoyed the event which generated £1.5m for the local economy.

“Back in 2013, we wanted to do something that had an impact for Morecambe and to create a festival that built on the town’s cultural offer and really showed its potential as a place for high quality cultural experiences, “ said Lauren Zawadzki who co-founded Deco Publique with Elena Jackson, some 30 years after they first met at primary school in Lancaster.

“It’s absolutely amazing that Vintage by the Sea has had such an impact.”

Vintage by the Sea has been described as one of the Top Five Retro Events in the World and awards include Visit Lancashire’s Large Tourism Event of the Year and finalist at the UK Festival Awards.

To mark the anniversary, Deco Publique has commissioned Morecambe’s Good Things Collective to create The People’s Bandstand.

This is a playful nod to Victorian structures and will host craft activities, competitions and performances over the weekend, and create a pop-up space for much-needed connections and conversations.

Alongside all the new features, Vintage by the Sea will welcome back many of the artists and performers who have appeared at the festival in years past and will include popular attractions such as the Vintage Marketplace, the Classic Car Show and Bradford to Morecambe car rally, street theatre, pop-up dance lessons, the Makers Market and Best in Show vintage fashion parade.

Among the family workshops will be screenprinting vintage posters led by Morecambe Community Riso Press and porcelain ceramics run by Ram Ceramics, also based in the town.

Other entertainment recently announced includes soul and lounge singer Count Indigo on the Melodrome stage, who will also host one of the festival's Best in Show catwalks alongside Wayne Hemingway, vintage singer Hattie Bee, relief printing with Ian Halawi, the ever popular tea ladies Jean and Morag, the irrepressible Viv the Spiv, the Diamond Awl leather workshop, jazz, jive and swing group The Swing Cat Trio, performance theatre group the Kitsch n Sync Collective.

Tickets are already on sale for the Vintage by the Sea After Party which features ex Portishead, Andy Smith, leading a musical journey through the decades, and for the Torch Club Ball, hosted by the Midland Hotel which celebrates its 90^th anniversary this year.

Vintage by the Sea events takes place in and around the Midland Hotel, Promenade Gardens, the Winter Gardens and The Platform.

For more information see here.