WillowFest 2023: comeback music festival will let under-14s in for free and be ‘more attractive to kids'

Organisers of this year’s WillowFest music festival are promising the event will be a truly family friendly affair - by offering free entry to under 14s.

The comeback festival – which is returning to the Embankment after a nine-year absence – is deliberately trying to make the event “more attractive to kids and younger folk.”

Organiser John Scriven told the Peterborough Telegraph he is keen to “bring back the same ethos” of the old festival while “adding elements to it”

“We’re still having 176 music acts across seven stages,” he said, “we’re keeping that, the same as it was in 2014, because that works - it’s a really cool concept.”

However, the long-established event manager and promoter explained that there will also be new additions to the festival that will make it “more family friendly.”

To this end, this year’s festival will – along with staple features like funfair rides and face-painting – offer art and craft areas, circus workshops and even a chalk graffiti wall.

John has also announced that WillowFest 2023 will be home to a ‘Music Hub’, an area where music-led organisations and music tutors from across the city will be able to show curious music fans what they do:

“We want kids to go into this hub,” John teased, “kids that have always been interested in music but have never really had the confidence to say ‘I want to play the guitar’ or ‘I want to write my own music’.”

John hopes the Hub will “lay the foundations by giving them access to the people that can help them achieve that.”

John, who is a passionate music lover, is keen to get as many kids to this year’s festival as possible.

He believes exposing youngsters to different kinds of live music in a welcoming environment at an early age is hugely beneficial.

“To have the opportunity to listen to so many different genres of music - it’s a chance for discovery.”

“And for them to have their first festival experience at an event that’s really family friendly with nice vibes and everything else going on - well, it’s a no-brainer.”