The family-friendly Deer Shed Festival has today announced its full music line-up for 2024.
The event, which takes place at Baldersby Park, Topcliffe from July 26 to 29, features diverse acts ranging from the African rhythms of KOKOKO! to LVR, whose members include Poet Laurette Simon Armitage.
Other headline acts include UK singer-songwriter Katherine Priddy, feminist quintet Nana Benz Du Togo and Leeds-based Deadletter plus Flamingods, The Coral, Bombay Bicycle Club and CMAT.
Deer Shed 2023
Also announced today are Oneda, Jessica Winter, Chalk, Lizzie No, Frankie Archer, The Itch, Dana Gavanski, Ellur, tinyumbrellas, Morgan Harper Jones, Lily Lyons, Aayushi, Our Man in the Field, Kathryn Williams and Withered Hand, Man/Woman/Chainsaw, Katie Gregson-MacLeod, Group Listening & Niki Stevens.
The comedy line-up, shows, films, science, sports, workshops, wellbeing and literary and spoken word are all still to be revealed.
Deer Shed has stages, tents, workshops, sports activities and outdoor fun for children and families to enjoy together. Tickets are on sale now.
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Deer Shed festival outlines social distancing measures
One of the country’s leading family-oriented festivals has outlined some of the public health measures it will introduce to ensure safety at this year’s revamped event.
The annual Deer Shed Festival was cancelled because of problems securing covid cancellation insurance.
Instead, organisers have created Deer Shed: Base Camp Plus, which is a smaller camping festival from July 30 and August 1 at Baldersby, on the edge of the Harrogate district.
Ahead of tickets going on sale tomorrow, its director Oliver Jones said it would be run on a socially-distanced basis, rather than testing attendees, to maintain as much of the festival’s distinctiveness as possible.
Even though the event doesn’t take place until the end of July, it has been designed to meet step three restrictions in the government’s roadmap, which came into force this week.
Mr Jones, who runs the festival on 90 acres of parkland, said the decision had meant it could feature the likes of comedians John Shuttleworth, Mark Watson, and Flo and Joan as well as female-fronted music headliners Jane Weaver, Dream Wife and Porridge Radio.
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While recent runnings of the festival have seen about 10,000 people attending, organisers say as a result of social distancing requirements there would be fewer than 4,000 festival-goers at this year’s Base Camp Plus event.
Those attending will need to wear masks in covered areas and the event will feature table bar service.
Among measures festival organisers will introduce to meet public health tests, being led by North Yorkshire County Council, include that each of the 850 camping pitches will have a toilet alongside.
Mr Jones said:
“It’s going to look mad with a lot of toilets dotted around the place. We want to make it as bullet-proof in this current environment as we can because there will be more festival cancellations and anyone who thinks the festival summer season is on is fairly deluded.
“The unlocking timetable took the festival industry by surprise, but for Boris to say there’s an end to restrictions is very much not true. Large events are not going to be back to normal.”
A spokesman for the council said all such events would be reviewed by the local safety advisory group, which would consider if the event organiser was ensuring all mitigations were in place to protect the public.
Checks for the festival will include that it can demonstrate safe and effective management of crowd density, how queues can be managed effectively, its ability to ensure the use of face coverings and enhanced cleaning, hand washing and hygiene procedures. For details, visit deershedfestival.com/basecampplus.
Live music fans will flock to a field near Topcliffe this weekend – but the Deer Shed Festival will have a very different feel compared to previous years.
Organisers have set up a socially-distanced weekend called Base Camp, with an on-site radio station delivering live music, comedy and more direct to people’s tents.
The 320 family pitches will be a far cry from the 11,000 attendees at last year’s event – and even the 2,000 who came to the first festival 11 years ago. Director Kate Webster told The Stray Ferret:
“It’s nice that we have been able to do something. All the people here have been to Deer Shed before and a lot of them are just happy to be out of their houses.
“It has been harder organising it because we’re having to do it on fewer staff, but there’s a lot less to do then usually when we have five stages.”
Socially distanced camping spaces, each with a portable toilet
Each pitch is 15m x 15m and has its own portable toilet, with water for washing. The Baldersby Park site near Topcliffe will also offer acres of outside space for families to enjoy.
Food and drink will be on sale from stands, but ticket holders are being asked to bring their own food and drink, including alcohol which will not be sold on site. Tickets were only offered to previous festival attendees, and the event is sold out.
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The event was originally planned to take place as usual this weekend, but plans were put on hold after the coronavirus lockdown came into force. Organisers have now created a programme for radio, including everything from live music to Q&A sessions.
They are also encouraging people to explore the surrounding area and local visitor attractions during the weekend.
As the first campers arrived on site today, Kate added:
“People are arriving a lot slower than they normally do for a festival weekend. Normally, they arrive an hour earlier than they’re meant to because they’re so keen to get in.
“This has been a lot more casual – people rolling up and slowly putting tents up. It’s a different atmosphere.
“We have got a few caterers and a bit of space, but we didn’t want people to get confused that it’s a festival. It’s not – it’s a camping event. You’re camping with like-minded people who go to Deer Shed and enjoy live music as a family.”
Although the full festival this year has not been possible, Kate said all the headliners and most of the line-up have been transferred to next year’s dates, July 30 to August 1.