Sandwich Folk & Ale Festival is run by a volunteer-led committee supported by public grants, donations & business sponsorship. The Sandwich Folk & Ale Festival Committee is a non-profit unincorporated association led by an elected team of professionals, folk lovers and ale drinkers.

The 14th Sandwich Folk & Ale Festival dates are yet to be announced. The mid-week portion of the festival takes place in pubs, bars and other venues around the town of Sandwich, with numerous performers and venues involved each day. The weekend sees the festival reach its crescendo with three stages set up for performances across the town, in addition to Morris dancing, stallholders, entertainment and more!

Nothing! The festival is free for everyone to attend, both mid-week and at the weekend.

We may run other events throughout the year, such as fundraisers, where tickets will be available for purchase. Details and prices for these events will be shared in the Events tab.

Sandwich Folk & Ale is a festival for all ages! It’s family friendly and good fun for kids too – we want to inspire the little ones to be social, creative and celebrate life. Children love the live music, Morris dancing and range of entertainment that we host throughout the town.

We will release the festival programme and stage times ahead of the 2025 festival. This will be published on our website and social media accounts. Generally, venues decide when they would like to start/stop music during the mid-week portion of the festival - during the 2024 festival, this was between 5pm-10pm daily. From the Friday, our Main Stage brings you music from around mid-day until the early evening. Saturday and Sunday have an earlier start, with music running from the morning until the evening, with music then continuing in pubs until late.

Morris dancing takes place throughout the festival weekend in dedicated areas around the town. Some groups like to start early and can be seen performing before the stages open. We know that some groups like to do impromptu performances, but we will strive to make a schedule and include this in our festival programme and online. Locations for 2025 are still TBC, but there are typically areas for Morris dancing in the following places:

• No Name Street

• Market Street

• The Quay

If you’re interested in getting involved, please contact us.

Absolutely! We’re grateful that you’re considering volunteering at the Sandwich Folk & Ale Festival and would love to hear from you. Check out our Supporting The Festival page for more info.

We have a range of sponsorship packages available, suitable for businesses of all sizes. Please check out our Supporting The Festival page for more info.

Car: Sandwich has limited parking in the centre of the town, so please plan ahead and consider alternative transport if this is an option for you. A full list of car parks can be found on the Dover District Council website. We will endeavour to secure an area for free car parking, as we have in previous years, although this isn’t guaranteed.

Train: Sandwich railway station is a 5-10 minute walk away from each of our stages. Sandwich is on the High Speed line and can be reached from London within 1 hour and 29 minutes. Visit the Southeastern website to check your journey time and cost.

Bus: Buses arrive directly to Sandwich Guildhall, where our Main Stage is located. To check and plan your journey, visit Stagecoach online.

We have a wide range of food and drinks vendors attending the festival to sell their tasty delights. Many of these are small and local businesses, so we encourage our attendees to support them. Food and drink is also available from the large number of cafes, restaurants and pubs in the town. However, we understand that this comes at a cost, and so our attendees are also welcome to bring their own refreshments. Out of courtesy, please only use tables and chairs available for public use when consuming your own food/drinks, and not those belonging to local businesses.