Stamford Riverside Festival was an annual

music festival A music festival is a community event with performances of singing and instrument playing that is often presented with a theme such as musical genre (e.g., rock, blues, folk, jazz, classical music), nationality, locality of musicians, or h ...

in Stamford,

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-west, Leicestershire ...

, England. It has been going for over 25 years, previous event names being 'Rock on the Rec', 'Rock on the Meadows' and 'Music on the Meadows'. The festival provided for genres such as Rock,

Punk Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...

Indie Indie is a short form of "independence" or "independent"; it may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Gaming *Independent video game development, video games created without financial backing from large companies *Indie game, any game (board ...

, Acoustic and more recently,

Dance Dance is a performing art form consisting of sequences of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolic value. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...

, and has included artists such as

Midget Midget (from ''midge'', a tiny biting insect) is a term for a person of unusually short stature that is considered by some to be pejorative due to its etymology. While not a medical term like "dwarfism", a medical condition with a number of ca ...

Enter Shikari Enter Shikari (stylised as enter: shikari and occasionally as ΣΠΤΣ℞ SΗΦΚ∆℞Φ) are a British rock band formed in St Albans, Hertfordshire, England in 1999 by bassist Chris Batten, lead vocalist and keyboardist Rou Reynolds, and drum ...

Hazel O'Connor Hazel Thereasa O'Connor (born 16 May 1954) is a British singer-songwriter and actress. She became famous in the early 1980s with hit singles " Eighth Day", " D-Days" and " Will You?" She also starred in the 1980 film '' Breaking Glass''. Caree ...

The Levellers The Levellers were a political movement active during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms who were committed to popular sovereignty, extended suffrage, equality before the law and religious tolerance. The hallmark of Leveller thought was its popul ...

and

Blast Blast or The Blast may refer to: * Explosion, a rapid increase in volume and release of energy in an extreme manner *Detonation, an exothermic front accelerating through a medium that eventually drives a shock front Film * ''Blast'' (1997 film) ...

History

The Stamford Riverside Festival began over 25 years ago as 'Rock on the Rec', a small gathering on a recreation ground in Stamford. Following increasing event success, its location was changed to its current position on meadows by the banks of the

River Welland The River Welland is a lowland river in the east of England, some long. It drains part of the Midlands eastwards to The Wash. The river rises in the Hothorpe Hills, at Sibbertoft in Northamptonshire, then flows generally northeast to Market ...

, with a name change to 'Music on the Meadows'. In 1999 it was rebranded as the 'Riverside Festival'. A more organised approach to the running of the event included the introduction of more stages and stalls. Because of the increasing financial strain of running a free festival, and ever-mounting difficulties in obtaining sponsorship, a request was made for a donation from adults on entry. Other changes included the banning of bringing alcohol to the event, in line with police recommendations. After 3 successive cancellations the organisation began referring to the festival in the past tense. It may never be held again.

Festivals

2009

The 2009 event took place on 4 July and included sets by

Neck The neck is the part of the body on many vertebrates that connects the head with the torso. The neck supports the weight of the head and protects the nerves that carry sensory and motor information from the brain down to the rest of the body. In ...

and

Stornoway Stornoway (; gd, Steòrnabhagh; sco, Stornowa) is the main town of the Western Isles and the capital of Lewis and Harris in Scotland. The town's population is around 6,953, making it by far the largest town in the Outer Hebrides, as well a ...

2010

The 3–4 July 2010 festival utilised four stages, and was held over two days to celebrate the festival's 10th anniversary. A 'Road to Riverside' competition to find a local band to play at the event was arranged by festival organisers and the ''

Rutland and Stamford Mercury The ''Stamford Mercury'' (also the ''Lincoln, Rutland and Stamford Mercury'', the ''Rutland and Stamford Mercury'', and the ''Rutland Mercury'') based in Stamford, Lincolnshire, England, claims to be "Britain's oldest continuously published news ...

'', and received 670 entries. The 2010 event included a set by

Los Salvadores Los Salvadores was a four-piece folk group from south east England. They performed across the United Kingdom and appeared at various festivals including Lounge On The Farm, Boomtown, Zoo Thousand, Endorse It in Dorset, Sellindge Music Festival ...

2011 (cancellation)

On 24 December 2010 it was announced that the festival would be cancelled for 2011, through lack of agreement between the organisers and Stamford Town Council over the re-use of the festival site, and the council's concern over previous damage caused, and the organiser's reluctance to provide the council with audited accounts."Riverside Festival will be held next summer"
''Rutland and Stamford Mercury'' 25 November 2011. Retrieved 15 May 2012 A

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...

page was set up in support of the festival. A picnic, promoted by an Internet campaign, was held on the festival date, with a set played by a local band. The picnic was attended by "hundreds of people".

2012 (cancellation)

In 2011 it was confirmed that the festival would return for 2012, and would be a ticket only event limited to 15,000 people. The decision to charge entry was to help with rising costs. This event, too, had to be cancelled. This time the reason was the flooding of the site during a summer of regular heavy rains. Stamford town council intervened when the site was flooded 2 days before the event was due to start.

2013 (cancellation)

A plan for a substantial festival in 2013 was cancelled because of difficulties over insurance caused by previous year's flooding. By February the insurers had still not settled for the previous year's cancellation and the committee felt that they could not go ahead for 2013.

References

External links

* detailed listings of each event from 2003 onwards Music festivals in Lincolnshire Annual events in the United Kingdom 1999 establishments in England Recurring events established in 1999 Stamford, Lincolnshire