From food and drink festivals, including celebrations of cider and sausage as well as gin and rum, to the East Midlands biggest Doctor Who get together, and a musical treat for dog lovers, Derby is gearing up for an event-packed 2022.
In the running to become the UK’s City of Culture 2025 – with the final shortlist set to be revealed this spring – Derby is already proving its cultural credentials with a feast of festival fun over the next 12 months.
Derby has a successful track record for hosting top-class events, including the annual Feste, a highlight of the city’s calendar featuring street theatre, music, dance and film, and Format, the UK’s leading international contemporary festival of photography and related media.
Now, as it pushes ahead with post pandemic recovery plans, Derby has unveiled some of its star events for 2022, with Derby’s newest and biggest independent events destination at the heart of many of them.
And not surprisingly for a city once described by travel gurus at Lonely Planet magazine as the “best place to drink real ale in the World”, beer will have a headline role.
For the first time, the city will host The Great Derbyshire Beer Festival (1 – 2 April), a new event dedicated to the best keg and cask beers available in Derbyshire, staged at The Chocolate Factory, a multi-room space housed in the industrial setting of an old chocolate factory. Tickets for the Beer Festival cost £10, pus booking fee.
The Chocolate Factory – which is also home to Bustler Market, an award-winning street food event that features some of the UK’s best street food traders held once a month – will also play host to another food and drink celebration on 7 May, when the indoor Sausage and Cider Festival arrives in Derby. Along with ciders on tap, plus Bag in Box Cider, and craft beer, festival goers can tuck into a range of sausages and other street food, while the event will also feature a DJ (tickets from £10).
And the festival spirit will be back at the venue for the UK’s largest Gin & Rum Festival tour on 21 May, with the chance to discover new favourites with samples from handpicked guest distillers or treat yourself at themed Gin and Rum bars (tickets £15).
Away from the food and drink theme, Derby’s Elvaston Castle Country Park will be the place to be during the summer for music lovers and their four-legged friends.
The UK’s ‘best dog friendly tribute festival weekender’, the Dog Lovers Festival, returns for 2022 (5 – 7 August), giving those who want to go to a music festival, but don’t want to leave their best friend behind, a chance to enjoy the ultimate pet-friendly gig.
Featuring the best UK tribute artists along with up-and-coming support acts, the Festival is back with an even bigger line-up in 2022, and promises extra doggy treats, including have-a-go activities, Dog Show and pop-up village with pet accessories (tickets from £10.50 in advance).
For something completely different, space and time will combine to make Derby the centre of the universe for fans of BBC TV’s Doctor Who, regarded as the most successful, and longest running, science-fiction television series.
As Jodie Whittaker’s final episode as the Doctor airs this autumn, Whooverville 13, the East Midland’s biggest annual get-together for fans of the hit series, will feature guest interviews, panels, autograph signings and photo opportunities at Derby QUAD (3 September).
For more details of Derby’s 2022 festival line-up, see www.visitderby.co.uk/whats-on/coming-to-derby-in-2022/.
Photo: Bustler Market
EDITOR’S NOTES
Derby is bidding to become the UK City of Culture 2025 and is supported by a city-wide partnership, including Visit Derby: “Culture Derby 2025. Derby is the city of makers; the birthplace of innovation. We are engineers, pioneers, artists and poets. Our people make our city and together we will make Derby the City of Culture.” https://culturederby.co.uk
Derby is among the eight successful bids through to the longlist of places in the running to be UK City of Culture 2025, with the winner to be revealed in early 2022.