Free festival returns as thousands set to attend

Thousands of people are expected to attend Cambridge's Strawberry Fair as it returns for its 51st year.

The event will be held on Midsummer Common on Saturday and will feature live music, a skatepark and poetry, organisers have said.

In 2025, the one-day fair was cancelled after volunteers said that running costs had doubled over the previous decade.

Here is what you need to know about this year's fair.

In 1973, a group of Cambridge University students ran a one-day fair on Midsummer Common in Cambridge.

The following year, it was named the Strawberry Fair and was a free alternative to the University of Cambridge colleges' May Balls.

The event's organisation was taken over by local volunteers in the 1980s and it has been run that way ever since.

In previous years it has included music, poetry, community art, circus acts and wellbeing sessions.

The event is held on the first Saturday of June and this year is expected to welcome about 30,000 people.

It starts with a parade on Christ's Pieces at 11:00 BST which goes through the city.

Organisers said the gates open to the fair at the same time, with the parade arriving at Midsummer Common an hour later.

The festival's website said there would be 10 stages on the day, including an eco stage, an Americana and indie stage and an electronic and dance stage.

Acts taking the main Rebel Love stage include Johnny Cabbage, Drok, with headliners Spacehopper set to close the event.

The festival finishes at 23:00.

There are four pedestrian entrances to the fair via Maid's Causeway, Victoria Avenue Bridge, Jesus Green and Walnut Tree Avenue, organisers said.

They added that they recommend people to walk, cycle or take public transport to the event due to no parking onsite apart from limited disabled parking.

Last year organisers said that the cost of the fair had risen to "at least £200,000", but that charging visitors was never an option.

Mark Evans, chairman of Strawberry Fair, said it was "devastating" to cancel last year's event.

"We found ourselves in a position where we could not carry on as we were," he said.

"We are bouncing back and it is great to be back here on Midsummer Common, and our volunteers are a key part of it."

A crowdfunding page had raised over £26,500 for the event, which Evans described as a "unique event for the city".

"This is really important for grass-roots music, and the people of Cambridge deserve a good day out," he said.

"What I am most looking forward to is the smile on people's faces and them enjoying themselves, and you can't put a price on that."

With it being the 51st year of the festival, organisers have chosen an Area 51 theme, a nod to the secret US Air Force base.

Sarah Corbett, the Rebel Love stage manager, said it has a model of a UFO next to which DJs and bands would perform.

"I moved to Cambridge onto a narrow boat... and I am very much about community and decided to get involved," she said.

"I love the fact a diverse group of people with different skills come together for one day and raise a party out of the ground that has something for everybody.

"I am looking forward to seeing the light show around the UFO."

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