Vintage by the Sea 2024

Visitors to this year’s Vintage by the Sea festival in Morecambe will take a journey through time, with a programme celebrating the decades from the Twenties to the Nineties.

A new space for the free family event will be Morecambe’s recently resurfaced skatepark, the TarPit, hosting its 20th anniversary celebration.  The two-day jam presented by artists, Jwllrs x kitchen UNIT, will feature new artworks and music from the local skate community, exploring the area’s skateboarding history and the role of skateboarding for fitness, community and wellbeing.

Over at the main festival site, there’ll be a space dedicated to the Eighties, created by Bristol’s Let’s Make Art, where festivalgoers can decorate paper jackets inspired by the iconic decade.  Silent disco headphones will also be on hand for anyone in the mood to dance in their new festival gear.

Join the festival’s after party on the Saturday night in the Little Big Top where DJ Paulette, the first female DJ to headline the event and one of only two women to have residencies at Manchester’s renowned Hacienda, will roll back the years to the Nineties. 

This year, the bandstand hosts Good Things Collective’s bunting making workshop and open mic on Saturday, with variety performances developed with their collective including the Big Gay Sing-along on Sunday.

Among new attractions for 2024 is The Little Big Top Boogie Ballroom where classes include 1930s novelty dances, jazz and swing, hip hop, Northern Soul, Bhangra and Bollywood as well as a disco from Kanteena's Family Fiesta.

Also new, Jukebox, The Teenage Revolution sited in Morecambe’s former visitor information centre, invites festivalgoers to soak up memories and music from the Fifties and Sixties.

On Saturday, Bird Rave flies in featuring an interactive ‘dance floor ornithology’ set to rave music and a chance to create plumage headpieces.  ​​​​And those wanting a unique festival souvenir can follow the clatter of The Poetry Machine, a vintage typewriter which poet Beth Calverley uses to write poems inspired by passersby.

Look out too for The Vegetable Nannies who will delight young children with their vintage pram brimming with beautiful fruit and veg babies.

Last year, Vintage by the Sea gained acclaim by winning the Lancashire Tourism Award for the festival which attracted 55,000 people.  Among the popular features making a return are the Classic Car Show, Dotty’s Vintage Marketplace, the Makers Market curated by Hopeful & Glorious, Best in Show Catwalk, the Melodrome Stage, street food, vinyl DJs, vintage bus rides and more.  The Winter Gardens will also be open with a programme of music, tours and refreshments.

Vintage workshops in the Seaside Make Space offer opportunities for visitors to try their hand at making anything from vintage puppets and collage to paper weaving, leather working and hand dyed yarn winding.