Morecambe Town Council

Vintage By The Sea has been awarded a £16,000 grant by Morecambe Town Council, enabling Morecambe’s biggest festival to expand its free programming and accommodate growing visitor numbers while remaining free to attend. 

Vintage By The Sea is the largest free vintage festival in the UK. It celebrated its tenth anniversary last year with its most successful iteration to date, welcoming over 50,000 people to Morecambe, contributing an estimated £1.5 million to the local economy, and winning Best Large Scale Event at the Marketing Lancashire awards.  

On accepting the grant award Lauren Zawadzki, Co-Director of Deco Publique and Festival Director, said ‘We would like to extend our thanks to Morecambe Town Council for its generous funding offer for Vintage by the Sea Festival. The funding will ensure that the festival remains free for all to enjoy, creating a lasting impact on the vibrant community of Morecambe and visitors alike. While the festival takes place over one weekend, teams work throughout the year to secure funding, curate the programme and artistic commissions, deliver marketing campaigns and ensure the festival is produced in a safe and robust manner. Funding from Morecambe Town Council will contribute to the whole programme delivery allowing us to build on the successes of our first decade and support a variety of projects in the community as well as the hugely successful festival weekend. We are delighted to be able to build our relationship with the town council in this way in 2024.’ 

Morecambe Town Councillors Margaret Pattison, Paul Hart, Monika Stenneken and Lee Bradbury present a cheque for £16,000 to support Vintage By The Sea to Festival Director Lauren Zawadzki (centre)

Lee Bradbury, the new Chair of Morecambe Town Council’s Festivals, Sponsorships, and Events Committee, said ‘Vintage By The Sea is one of the crown jewels in Morecambe’s festival and events calendar, and has really helped put Morecambe back on the map over the last decade. Their ethos for working in partnership with local businesses, community organisations, educators and creatives makes it a festival that does so much more for the town than simply boost the resort’s visitor numbers. It is truly ingrained in the fabric of the Morecambe community, and we can’t imagine a summer without it.’ 

Vintage By The Sea takes place 31 August – 1 September this year. With entertainment and attractions catering to all ages, including classic cars, vintage fashion, pop-up theatre and dance, heritage fairground attractions, street food stalls, live music, a makers’ market and more, Vintage is a genuinely family-friendly festival that marks the end of school summer holidays in unmistakable style. 

Find out more about Vintage By The Sea at https://www.vintagefestival.co.uk/