About the Festival
Over 20 years of Clifftop Fun!
Gorleston Clifftop Festival is a free entry, family orientated, fun festival. The event takes place each year on the last full weekend in July. The festival attracts over 100,000 visitors across the weekend and really does have something for everyone!
We’re pleased to welcome First Furnishings Superstore on board as this year’s main sponsor, You can visit their website here to find out more about them.
This two day event is proudly organised by a voluntary committee (everyone does it in their spare time and no one gets paid) and costs around £34,000 to put on. No funding is received from the council, we depend on sponsorship, donations and pitch fees to cover the cost. We also depend on an army of volunteers to help us out over the festival weekend to ensure it all runs smoothly!
Firm favourites of the festival include 40 hours of live music across the main stage and acoustic stage, a large fun fair and lots of stalls to browse. A free children’s arena which plays host to pirates, princesses and birds of prey is popular with the little ones and, for the four legged critters, the fun dog show is open for all dogs above 6 months old. Other attractions include emergency services, strongman competition, WAW Wrestlers, comedy tent, dog agility, living history, clifftop charity basketball (these attractions vary year on year so be sure to check out the event guide for what’s happening this year). Performers from local dance and stage schools display their talent on the main stage on Sunday mornings and sports groups demonstrate their sporting ability throughout Sunday in the display ring.
Visitors are welcome to bring their own food and drink on site but, for those who prefer to eat out, we have a variety of food stalls and bars on site including burgers, hot dogs, spicy thai, fish and chips hog roast, Italian, licensed bar and ale tents.
The event started in 1998, was traditionally known as Gorleston Clifftop Gala and, in conjunction with the Round Table, hosted the Gorleston Raft Race. The main focus of the Gala was to host a platform where charities from across the area could come to one place, with lots of people, to fundraise for their individual good causes. This ethos is continued year after year and over 30 charities pitch up on a stretch of the cliffs and raise about £10,000.
Looking to the future of the festival we can only hope it gets bigger and better. Without fail there will always be two jam packed days with entertainment and music, a busy fairground and so much more. To check out what is going on at this year’s event click on the event guide link above or check out our Facebook and twitter.