| Where: | Standedge Tunnel and Visitor Centre, Marsden - starting at the old goods yard. |
| When: | 1st Saturday in February every other year |
| Time: | 7pm |
Imbolc is a pagan festival marking St Brigid’s Day and the end of winter ; this relatively recent event started in the 1990s as a community celebration to embrace the turning of the year. There is a procession, dance performances,music & drumming, stilt walking, lanterns, pyrotechnics and, of course, fire! Jack Frost and the Green Man battle for supremacy in a mummers play symbolising the triumph of spring over winter followed by fireworks and dancing. All are welcome; the festival is popular with all ages and attracts large crowds – it goes ahead whatever the weather.
Helpul Hints.
It’s usually held in years that end with an even number so in 2024 it should have been on Saturday February 3rd but sadly didn’t go ahead (see Facebook link below). Hopefully it’ll return in 2026 |(to be confirmed).
Unless you arrive early (before 6 pm) the road to the Standedge Tunnel car park will be closed for the event so you’ll need to park in town. There’s plenty of room for everyone to watch the event, but for access reasons you must follow the procession from the Tunnel Carpark opposite the Railway Inn to the fire site. Don’t be in too much of a hurry to leave after the Green Man chases off Jack Frost – when we went in 2014 a large part of the crowd vanished at this point and sadly missed the fire dances by Mr Fox & Co at the Goods Yard carpark, which were well worth seeing.
Click here for the festival’s Facebook page : https://www.facebook.com/groups/28897413498/?fref=ts
Hi Averil
Just a quick note to say that this isn’t on in 2013 and will be back in 2014 which is a shame because I was planning to go. Just give a quick note in case anyone was doing he same. Regards Ross
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Thanks Ross!
I’ve put a note on the site – we were also planning on going in 2013 so glad to get an early warning. Never mind, it sounds as though it’ll go ahead for the next year, fingers crossed!
Best Wishes,
Averil
why
Hi!
The report I read said the organisers were short of money and manpower but that they hope to get it going for next year 2014, all being well. Fingers crossed!
Averil
We would love to come to the fire festival!! Where would be the best place to stay the night ?
Hi Cat,
You’ve come to the Calendar Customs comments page – we write about many events but haven’t any connection with running any of them! As we live quite a distance away from the festival I’d recommend getting in touch with the event’s facebook group at
https://www.facebook.com/groups/28897413498/
Hopefully they’ll be able to give you some good ideas with their local knowledge. Best of luck – we’re hoping to go too (we’re staying at travelodge up the road but you might want to be a bit more central!)
Averil
We found out about it by chance and attended. We loved it – it a superb evening’s entertainment, We definitely attend again!
A minor criticism is the lack of information available. An itinerary and explanation would have been great. I gather we missed some things well worth seeing.
Hi David,
Thanks for getting in touch. I’m pleased to hear you enjoyed the fire festival! Here at calendarcustoms we have no connection to the running of the events featured on the site, so if you want to get in touch with the organisers to suggest adding the itinerary and explanation to their publicity, head for their Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/groups/28897413498/?fref=ts as it’s something they can work on for next time. I expect other people would also find information like that helpful too.
Best wishes,
Averil
is it really cancelled this year?
regards
Steve
Hi Steve,
Sadly it’s true – 2022 is cancelled. If you follow the link to the event’s Facebook page under Helpful Hints, you’ll see the announcement that the organisers put out in December- hopefully it’ll be on again when they’ve had a chance to do some fund-raising. Fingers crossed!
Best wishes,
Averil
Is this on this year? I have been on thd Facebook page but can’t see anything for this year.
Hi Yvonne,
I haven’t been able to find anything out about it happening in 2024 either so have grave doubts about it going ahead since it’s less than a month to the due date. I’ll put a note on the post, then if anything changes I’ll make further amendments – but from past experience I’ve found that if an event is usually fairly easy to find out about and then isn’t, it means it isn’t happening…
Best wishes,
Averil