Hatted visitors to the festival (Photo: Bridport Hat Festival)
When: 1st September 2018
Where: Bridport, Dorset
£: Most events are free. Some of the talks and concerts are ticketed.
What is it?
The Bridport Hat Festival will take place on Saturday 1st September with quirky hat competitions, talks, mass-hatted gatherings, children’s activities and street entertainment.
The festival will be spread across various venues including Bucky Doo Square, Borough Gardens, The Bull Hotel, the Arts Centre, the Town Hall, the Library, The Ropemakers, Millennium Green and the surrounding streets.
The more unusual events taking place during the day will include Elegant Ensemble competitions, a Hat Hurling Challenge, a Best Hatted Dog Competition and a Mad Hatters’ Tea Party. Before the event there will also be a Hat Amnesty and Auction, so festival-goers can get their hats ready for the day.
The festival day kicks off with a mass-hatted keep fit session (just turn up in a hat), followed by the Mayor’s welcome in Bucky Doo Square. Throughout the day the square will host live music and hat competitions. One of the day’s highlights will be the mass hatted photo at 1pm in the square.
Millennium Green will see plenty of fun events taking place, including psychic hat reading, the Bridport Hat Hurling Challenge, the Most Elegant Ensemble, the Best Hatted Dog Competition, live music and the Mad Hatters’ Tea Party. The Hat Festival HQ will be based at the Town Hall, the Arts Centre will host live music and hat-themed trade stalls, and The Bull Hotel will have a variety of talks.
Borough Square will see dance, arts and music performances and throughout the town there will be street entertainment, a market, a vintage quarter and musical troubadours.
More info: www.bridporthatfest.org