# How much under real threat is the Bristol Harbour Festival?



## William of Walworth (Jan 5, 2012)

Any locally informed thoughts on this?

I know the BHF is not until like late July (potentially), and also that not everyone in Bristol loves the thing. But we've been to the last two and loved them. The 2012 event will be on our plans again -- if it happens.

Apparantly most of the event staff at Bristol City Council were laid off shortly after last year's event, which lost money it seems.

Old sources for the above :

BlottR

The Bristol Harbour Festival page of the 'Steam Boats' website

Any more up to date information folks? Ta.


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## Gerry1time (Jan 5, 2012)

I know people in and around it on the council side certainly, so will have an ask for you!

What I do know of it though is that it was somewhat oddly run for a while, and some of the eccentricities seem to live on to this day. The big one here is the 'Tall ships' that they get in from around the country and pay a small fortune for. Most people don't even seem to know they're there, let alone come to the harbour festival to see them. They've already cut the evening fireworks display, so why they can't cut the ships I have no idea. There's 'heritage' and all that, but really, Bristol used to be a naval and sea faring city, it now no longer is one. Nor has it been for a couple of hundred years.

The French market there has got very stale too. I grew up around french street markets, and what they get for the Harbour Festival just seems to be the same people bringing over their second quality produce to rip off 'les anglais'. I just don't buy anything there anymore, as you just know you're going to get robbed at the till.

The music is a bit hit and miss too really. Not generally that bad though I guess. I imagine various authorities are getting a little bored of the chaos of that many people moving around an area that's not really designed for it too. I sometimes wonder why as a city we keep insisting on having 'festivals' down there when it's such a fundamentally bad location for those sorts of events. Anyhoo.

So yeah, will do some enquiring, but that's what I know off the top of my head. Personally a part of me wonders if 'the olympics' will be given as the reason to give the thing a year off and have a bit of a think about it. If they compare themselves with Glasto through that bollocks story of 'lack of portaloos' though, I shall scream. Bet they will as well.


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## Geri (Jan 5, 2012)

Many moons ago it was the regatta, hence the ships. Do away with that side of it and it's just another bog standard festival.


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## William of Walworth (Jan 6, 2012)

Cheers for that post Gerry1t, and let me know if you find anything.

I do take your points about the weirdness of it all btw, but a lot of that's what we enjoy I think!

Never really noticed the 'French market' mind -- we were too busy checking out other stuff ...


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## fractionMan (Jan 17, 2012)

That 'french' market turns up in bath a couple of times a year too.  It's shite.


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## William of Walworth (Jan 17, 2012)

Latest on this (from a tip that Ground Elder passed onto me) is that the old Bristol Harbour Festival looks like it's totally reinventing itself this year, and moving itself to Ashton Court in September
Brisfest (homepage)
Brisfest (their account of the changes)
BBC's take on the changes.

Food for thought!

I've just amended my own Festival Tour 2012 thread (updated list page 2) on the festivals forum with the above links.


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## Gerry1time (Jan 18, 2012)

Do you mean the Harbour Festival or Brisfest though? Same location, but two entirely different events. The latter was born out of the death of the Ashton Court festival, and has always had its eye on ending back up there at some point in the future.


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## William of Walworth (Jan 18, 2012)

Have to say I'm still well confused still about any _real_ (?) connections between the two, and the above links don't seem to clarify that really .... not a lot anyway .... 

Gerry, and others, could you help me out there? 

Local knowledge = top grade please  ... and I don't have that ..... yet ....

Will happily buy you, and others, pints in Bristol at several times  later this year for any useful help.

Cheers!


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## Gerry1time (Jan 18, 2012)

Cool, easy way to remember it is there's absolutely no link between the two. 

The Harbour Festival at the end of July is the semi council run thing (it's mostly contracted out now) that has a shit french market, some utterly pointless tall ships and sometimes a stage or two. Still hunting down what's happening to it this year through contacts.

Brisfest (in your links above) was set up by a group of people who thought they could make the Ashton Court festival work when the original organisers finally threw in the towel after years of problems. To be fair to them, they seem to have succeeded, although they've now accepted what the old organisers were saying they'd have to do for years beforehand but felt they never could, and charge hansomely for it. It's normally towards the end of September, takes place only in the amphitheatre bit of the Harbourside (but is now moving to Ashton Court), and features some generally mediocre local bands and lots of people trying their hardest to pretend they like dubstep. Followed by an option to go as many different clubs around the city on the Saturday night as you like on just one ticket. Unless the club is full. Or the bouncers are taking an extra fiver for themselves here and there.


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## William of Walworth (Feb 17, 2012)

Looks like events have overtaken a lot of the above speculation now -- the Bristol Harbour Festival website appears to have been updated recently(ish)

2012 dates : Friday 20th to Sunday 22nd July. (We can't make 'em!  )

Thanks to Dave Cinzano for alerting me to this.


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## Gerry1time (Feb 18, 2012)

Oh cool, that means we can go then. Usually it's around my birthday, and as much as the mrs loves it, there's no way I'm spending my birthday there.


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## William of Walworth (Feb 19, 2012)

We're still in 'not quite decided yet' mode about our Harbour Fest vs Other Planned Fest conundrum. We basically need more info and lineups, for both.

(TBH, for now)

Watch this space etc ...


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## Gerry1time (Feb 22, 2012)

Came across some more information about the harbour festival today. Apparently this year it's making a concerted effort to move away from what it has become, a large popular mass attendance festival that was spreading in size, to something smaller based around the harbourside alone and focussing on the harbourside and its history. There will be 'some music' but it's going to be massively reduced in focus.

Whether they manage to communicate this to the tens of thousands of munt heads who turn up to drink and make merry each year remains to be seen. The subtext is that they're hoping they can, following local resident complaints.


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