'Delight' as Festival of Thrift returns to town
TVCA/LDRSA popular thrift festival has announced it will be returning to Redcar this summer.
The Festival of Thrift was previously held at Kirkleatham Museum but has spent the last four years being hosted in Billingham.
It will return on 4 and 5 July, bringing a free, two-day family festival full of arts, crafts, fashion, food, performances, workshops and local traders.
Redcar and Cleveland Council Labour leader Alec Brown said: "We are absolutely delighted to welcome Festival of Thrift back to Kirkleatham as part of this new multi-year partnership."
Wayne Hemingway, founder and board member of the Festival of Thrift, said Kirkleatham was a "very special place" for the organisation.
"Festival of Thrift is about celebrating sustainability, creativity and community in ways that are joyful and accessible," he said.
"Redcar and Cleveland embody those values, and we're thrilled to be part of the area's continued growth and ambition."
Each year, the festival attracts 25,000 to 40,000 visitors from all over the UK.
The festival's organisers said they could not wait to return and meet the second-hand sellers, charities, upcyclers, artists, designers and sustainable food sellers.
Brown said: "The festival is hugely valued by our residents and visitors and brings real cultural and economic benefits to the borough, supporting local businesses, artists and traders while attracting tens of thousands of people to the area.
"Its return reflects our ambition for Redcar and Cleveland as a place of creativity, sustainability and confidence, and it sits perfectly alongside our growing programme of cultural and sporting events."
