Ilkley’s Garden Music festival was back last weekend for its fourth year and the community enjoyed every moment.
Music will fill the streets of Ilkley as members of the community played and sung in gardens and venues across town for Ilkley Live.
The festival started in 2021 as a way to bring the community together after lock-down and was so popular that it has become an annual staple for the town. The festival, which organisers believe to be the only one of its kind, is run by the community for community.
‘This year, the festival was on a different level!’, says Festival Co-Director Dan Hammond. ‘I think the two days are summed up by the word “joyful”. Over 90 acts performed – and they were all brilliant. The performers and venues did an amazing job promoting the festival with some amazing artwork. That meant that the audience was bigger than ever. The website saw almost four thousand visitors in the week of the festival!’.
The festival was free to attend and performers played to benefit the community and to support our official charity, Outside The Box. Outside the Box runs a popular local café and brings a fresh approach to enabling adults and young people who have learning disabilities and other support needs to achieve more and have greater independence, choice and fulfilment in their lives. All commercial venues are generously donated to Ilkley Live.
The spirit of the festival this year was summed up by Tim from the popular band The Garden Party: ‘We had an absolute ball! But more than that, we saw the smiles on the faces of those generous enough to support us and saw those same smiles on the performers and audiences for all the other acts we saw, too. The day brought out the best of everyone and so, using that measure alone, it was hugely memorable for all the right reasons.’
The 2025 festival will take place on 11th and 12th July - more details at www.ilkleylive.com.