Festivals in Leeds - Festivities and celebrations Calendar

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15. Sports in Leeds
16. Nightlife in Leeds - Nightclub guide and going out in Leeds
17. Where to eat in Leeds - Leeds specialities and British cuisine
18. Shopping in Leeds
19. Festivals in Leeds - Festivities and celebrations Calendar
20. Music Scene in Leeds
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22. Visiting Leeds in 3 days - What to see in Leeds in 3 days?

Light night (10th and 11th November)

Light Night in Leeds is the largest annual arts and light festival in the UK. There are lots of different eye capturing and colourful events, such as illuminated dancers and drummers, jugglers and different pieces of art-work featuring lights.

Leeds Festival (August Bank Holiday weekend)

Where: Bramham Park

Reading and Leeds festival is a festival which takes place in two cities, Reading and Leeds, over the August Bank Holiday weekend; alternating the acts between the two locations. The first ever festival took place in 1999 and is still very popular to this day.

The festival features a mix of music genres such as rock, indie, hiphop, techno and grme and it features some very famous Headline acts every year, with past acts including Nirvana, Arctic Monkeys and Post Malone. There are also other events that take place too, such as raves and silent discos!

Slam Dunk North Festival

Slam Dunk is the metal and pop-punk to Leeds festival which takes place on May Bank Holiday weekend. Famous acts who have played at the festival include Fall Out Boy, Panic! At the Disco and Paramore.

Live at Leeds

Live at Leeds is a music festival which takes place over several locations in Leeds during the weekend of May Bank Holiday, in places such as Brudenell Social Club and o2 Academy Leeds.

It has featured some very famous acts such as Ed Sheeran, Catfish and the Bottlemen and The Cribs. The city is bustling when it takes place and there is a great atmosphere. Tickets for the 2020 event started from £25, not bad for a whole day of great music!

Tour de Yorkshire

A take on the famous Tour de France, the Tour de Yorkshire is a gruelling cycling race where competitors cycle tens of miles every day. It came about after Yorkshire was chosen to be the Grand Depart (when the race starts in a different country) for the Tour de France in 2014.

The race consists of 4 stages around Yorkshire and some famous cyclists have competed, such as British cyclist Mark Cavendish.

Leeds Pride (2nd August)

Leeds Pride is the annual gay pride celebration and is the biggest free Pride event in the country, with over 40,000 attendees!

It all commences in Millenium Square, with a parade through the city centre with over 60 floats and lots of entertainment taking place in Lower Briggate. The city will be lit up, with everyone dressed in rainbow colours, grinning and waving flags in the air.

Leeds International Film Festival (4th - 19th November)

Leeds is a hub for film production and exhibition and is also home to one of the UK’s biggest TV channels, Channel 4. Leeds Film Festival was founded in 1987 and celebrates world film with lots of different categories and prizes available, for example: Short Film Awards, Animation Short Film and Queer Short Film.

The festival takes place over 16 days and in over 300 venues, such as Leeds Town Hall and Hyde Park Picture House.

Leeds West Indian Carnival (last Monday of August)

This Carnival has been taking place since 1967, making it one of the longest running West Indian Carnivals in Europe. It takes place over 3 days and welcomes around 150,000 people. There are a wealth of events which take place: parades, Caribbean food, great music and lots of traditional costumes.

Fun fact, around 80,000 portions of rice and peas are consumed during the event!

Leeds Indie Food Fest (two week festival in May)

With its wealth of independent restaurants and variety of street food venders, it is clear that if you are a self-proclaimed foodie, Leeds is the place for you.

There are a huge range of events for whatever your taste is: a Pizza and Prosecco festival, the option to attend a 5-course Harry Potter themed meal and a sausage roll competition to name a few!

If you want to find out more, visit the official Food Festival website here.

Bonfire Night

Bonfire Night, or Guy Fawkes Night, is a very popular event in England which takes place every year in November. The event is observed due to what took place on the 5th November 1605, when Guy Fawkes was caught guarding explosives placed under the House of Lords. The date is popularly memorised by saying “remember, remember, the 5th of November”.

Typically, everyone will be spending the evening outside, where they will let colourful fireworks off into the sky, accompanied with lots of “ooohs” and “ahhhhs”. There are also bonfires and burning of the “Guy”, where they throw a scarecrow onto the bonfire, as well as hand-held sparklers. People will either have private firework displays in their homes, or go to one of the huge displays in the local area.

In Leeds, huge firework displays take place in Woodhouse Moor and Roundhay Park, along with a giant bonfire and even a fairground. If you want to find out more, read this Erasmus students experience of Bonfire Night, their first British festival in Leeds, along with incredible photos of the event.

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