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Harbour festival draws huge crowds to city centre

News imageColin Moody Five people leaning over the edge of a black river boat, lowering colourful handmade sailboats into Bristol's harbour. There are more model boats resting on the canvas roof of the boat. Colin Moody

Hundreds of thousands of people descended on Bristol's waterfront over the weekend for the city's biggest free festival.

Organisers of this year's Bristol Harbour Festival described the event, held from 18 to 20 July, as a "resounding success".

Hundreds of performers - 80% of whom are based in the city - took to the stage across the weekend, including headline act The Longest Johns.

"The Harbour Festival 2025 was a bold, diverse and joyful celebration of everything that makes Bristol brilliant," said the organisers in a statement on Monday.

News imageColin Moody A man with white hair and sunglasses holding up a blue handmade model sailboat in front of a large wooden galleon ship. The model sailboat has a mermaid painted on the bottom and writing on its sails which reads 'The Lilarlic 2.0 will never sink - never'. Colin Moody

As well as a huge range of music acts, live talks and other creative performances, visitors were also treated to views of Tall Ship Galeón Andalucía, which was docked in the harbour all weekend.

News imageColin Moody Two male DJs standing on stage at Bristol Harbour Festival with their arms in the air, hyping up the crowd below. The amphitheatre is full of a large crowd of people. The sky is dark and the image has an overall blue-purple hue from the stage lights. Colin Moody

Musical acts performed late into the evening against the iconic backdrop of Bristol's waterfront.

News imagePaul Box A large crowd of people standing in Lloyd's Amphitheatre during Bristol Harbour Festival. The sky is overcast but bright, and in the background you can see a tall galleon ship moored in the harbour, with Spanish flags and bunting flying from its mast.Paul Box

The festival has a long history in Bristol, with the very first event held in 1971 as part of a fight by local campaigning groups to save the docks.

News imagePaul Box A performer on stage wearing a colourful shirt and trousers in a traditional African print. He has long dreadlocks and is facing the crowd with his arms outstretched wide. Hanging off him is a kora, a traditional African instrument, which looks like an elongated wooden guitar. Paul Box

In 1996 the harbour became the site of the first International Festival of the Sea, drawing in tall ships from international waters - a tradition that has continued for nearly 30 years.

News imageColin Moody Six people dressed in bright orange overalls, paddling across Bristol's harbourside on a raft, using large oars which have been designed to look like knives and forks. The raft they are floating on looks like a piece of toast, and they are meant to resemble beans.Colin Moody

The team behind the festival said the event "transformed the harbourside into a mile-long cultural playground, featuring six unique zones bursting with live music, dance, circus and on-the-water spectacles".

News imagePaul Box Two teams paddling across the river during a raft race. One team is dressed as beans on toast, in bright orange overalls with cutlery oars, and the other's raft looks like a swan. Paul Box

While much of the activity during the festival is now firmly based on dry land, elements such as the raft race have remained popular.

News imagePaul Box Two acrobatic performers putting on a show in front of a crowd of children. The man on the right, wearing blue jeans and a black t-shirt, is throwing silver hula hoops to a woman on the left, who is wearing a wonder woman outfit. The children are throwing around an inflatable globe, and in the background there are carousel horses, a large parrot, and a wooden shelf stacked with books.Paul Box

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