Held every year, Saltaire festival is the town’s method of showing off it’s beauty whilst provided heaps of entertainment amongst it’s picturesque industrial village. More than 30,000 people visited Saltaire over the past few weeks for the festivities and I was delighted to be among them.

First held in 2003, the festival was set up in commemoriation of 150 years of the town and has been held annually ever since. Completely organised by volunteers, there was tonnes to see and do. So let me spin you a yarn…

Heritage Weekend

For the first weekend of Saltaire festival, the focus is on the heritage and history of the Town. Built in the 1800s by Sir Titus Salt, the town of Saltaire is a gemstone hidden amongst West Yorkshire’s sprawling landscapes. With its lattice-like streets and classical old mill, the town is a tourist hotspot throughout the year, but over the next couple weekends it will be absolutely packed with people who are all here for the festivities.

Throughout the town, events and stalls are being run that highlight some of the key events throughout its history and whilst they’re on I’m going to do my best to see them all.

My journey began at the Methodist church. Found in the Southwest of the town, this church has been in use since 1868 and has seen its fair share of changes in that time (including a complete rebuild in the 70s). These days it hosts numerous events alongside its ongoing use as a church for sermons and the like. Today, this church is the host to an art exhibition, a chance for local artists to display their ongoing work and hopefully make a few sales to any prospective buyers.

That wasn’t the only art sale on today, the more centrally located ‘United Reform’ church also held a few artists with the different paintings displayed along the pews. Saltaire Festival isn’t the only time these types of events are held in the village though, local art groups are constantly holding events and it’s not just in Saltaire either. Check out the SAA website for yourself if you’re interesting in checking out the local artwork or creating some yourself: https://community.saa.co.uk/art-clubs/

Victoria Hall

The main place to be today was Victoria Hall, a large central building found on the main street of Saltaire. Here, there were several different classes and groups showing off their specialties. Here’s my list of the groups I visited, but I’m sure there were more that I missed:

• Saltaire History Club – A group of novice historians dedicated to preserving the history of the village of Saltaire. Today they had a few presentations on not just the history of Saltaire, but of Victoria Hall itself. You can find out more about them on their website: https://www.saltairehistoryclub.org/
• Piano Village – Hosted by the Yorkshire Music School, several pianos had been set up around the village with each having a pianist provide entertainment for the day.
• Bradford Belles – A group of dancers ‘of a certain age’ who have moves like no other. These ladies had some brilliant outfits and even more brilliant dances. https://www.bradfordbelles.co.uk/

The highlight of my visit to this classic hall was the central performance of the cinema organ society with ‘The Wurlitzer’. I managed to get a video of this incredibly talented playing, but nothing will quite beat seeing it in person, so I implore you to check out any local players: https://www.cinema-organs.org.uk/

Food Festival

On the following weekend, Saltaire Festival is the host to a food festival, rows of different stalls each with their own cuisine. This weekend is always the highlight for the locals, and why wouldn’t it be! There are tonnes of different foods to try from all over the world

There were Sausages from Germany, Jerk Chicken from Jamaica, Crepes from Belgium, and my choice for the day, a selection of tacos, quesadillas, and burritos from Latin America.

I cannot overstate how nice it is to walk around the festival, chatting with a good friend whilst enjoying some exquisite food from one of the stalls. Even on a day like it was, incredibly rainy, I still found myself smiling and laughing whilst devouring my tortilla.

Food wasn’t the only thing to be found today though; crossing over the River Aire, there was a whole section within Robert’s Park (a park found quite centrally to the village) full of local more local artists selling their wares. Rather than just paintings as I saw last weekend, these stalls had everything from handmade jumpers, through to homemade soaps. I love local events like these that really let people show off their talents and hopefully get a bit more custom heading their way.

A further section of the festival held the farmers market, where you could buy produce from local sources. I decided to stop by here and pickup some local honey from a nearby apiary (a place where bees are kept) as I can rarely resist a good spoonful of the stuff. As well as honey though, there were eggs, milk, and meat all sold by local farmers, really letting you obtain that authentic Yorkshire produce.

Saltaire festival is held every year in mid-September, but the different stalls can be found throughout the year at tonnes of events all around the country. I’m hoping to travel around and hit a few more of these in the future but it’s hard to deny the hold that Saltaire has on me. To enjoy everything I have over the past two weeks amongst the backdrop of an industrial town is truly an incredible experience and I simply cannot wait for the next one. Only 51 weeks to wait!

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Did you check out Saltaire festival? Let me know what you thought below?

Thanks for reading,

Cassie