An arts festival featuring street theatre, circus acts, music, and dance is celebrating its 50th anniversary. The Winchester Hat Fair, held in the city centre, runs from Friday to Sunday.
This festival draws thousands of visitors and includes both national and international performers. Organized by the arts charity Play to the Crowd, the event is funded by Arts Council England, Winchester City Council, Without Walls, and local businesses and community support.
The festival kicks off with a carnival where schoolchildren and community groups parade through the streets in vibrant costumes themed “Look Back, Look Forwards, Look Up.” On Friday evening, community choirs and dancers will gather outside Winchester Cathedral for the opening ceremony.
Hat Fair director Andrew Loretto remarked, “As we begin the 50th birthday year of Hat Fair, we are proud to feature a wide range of community participants alongside national and international artists.”
Founded in 1974, the Hat Fair gets its name from the tradition of performers collecting donations in a hat after their acts. Loretto added, “Despite the challenging funding climate for Hat Fair and cultural activities across England, we are committed to staging a festival that celebrates diversity, joy, community, and performance in Winchester’s unique spaces.”
“The Hat Fair embraces the unusual, the quirky, the challenging, and the humorous, uniting thousands of people of all ages and backgrounds for a special and unique event in the UK’s cultural calendar.”