Withernsea Pirate Festival is back for a third year of swashbuckling shenanigans on the east coast. The free event has new features this year, including a Salty Seadog Social to kick off the fun the evening before the main festival.
Pirates of all ages and from across a wide area beyond East Yorkshire are expected to converge on the resort for a re-crowning of the Pirate King, fun and games with Scallywag Jack, stalls, live entertainment and the traditional Pirate Parade. The Salty Seadog Social is for all ages and will be held on Friday, July 17, from 8pm, at the Alexendra Hotel, Withernsea.
The main day of the festival, Saturday, July 18, will kick off at 11.15am sharp with a mustering of pirates at the Castle Café, ready to parade to Valley Gardens and a full day of entertainment to follow. Sarah Bogg, one of the festival organisers, said: “We’ve got a Golden Peg award this year for the best-dressed pirate of the whole festival.
“The local motorbikers are also coming this year, for everyone to enjoy the bikes. It’s a little bit bigger and better this year, with some extra stalls and a different bar with plenty of rum and different drinks to choose from.
“As last year, the parade will start at Castle Café, there will be a photo stop on the steps of the Pier Towers and then the parade will move on to Valley Gardens.” Sarah said: “It was a really good festival last year although we had to cut it short because of the torrential rain, and some of the entertainment didn’t get shown, but fingers crossed the weather will stay like it has been lately.
“We had lots of children taking part last year; lots of people were pirated-up and they all looked amazing. We go to other pirate festivals around the country, such as Brixham and Whitby, and it’s good that word is getting out about Withernsea Pirate Festival as one to come to.
“We love it – it’s a lot of organising but we have a really good group of us on it. This year we’ve been asking small businesses to help with sponsorship to keep funds flowing.”
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