Folkestone's Kate Bush Fest dates for 2026 announced
Some 2,000 dancers took part last year!
Returning for its sixth year, a huge celebration of Kentish icon Kate Bush, The Most Wuthering Heights Day Ever (@mostwutheringheightsdayfolke), returns to Folkestone Harbour Arm on Sunday 26th of July for 2026.
Thousands of enthusiasts dressed in wigs and red playsuits, are set to head down to the town’s waterfront for an experience that is fast becoming one of the most recognised in the county.
Dancers of all abilities pay tribute to Kent-born (Bexleyheath) Kate Bush, with a mass choreographed performance to the soundtrack of the 1978 smash hit ‘Wuthering Heights’.
Some history… Started in 2013 by Brighton-based performance group Shambush, The Ultimate Kate Bush Experience was an attempt to set a world record of having the most people dressed as legendary musician Kate Bush in one location.
More than a decade on and the event has stretched across the world, with Kate Bush-themed events popping up in July across cities from Austin in Texas to Sydney in Australia, with many more (Berlin, Copenhagen, Dublin and Tel Aviv, to name but a few) between.
Image by Andy Aitchison - www.andyaitchison.uk
But one of the most successful has been one right here in Kent, down in Folkestone, who took to the Harbour Arm for the first time in 2018 with some trepidation. But with hundreds turning up to honour the star, a marker was set down and the attendance was doubled when it was recreated in 2019.
Having had a Covid hiatus, The Most Wuthering Heights Day Ever returned on July 30th 2023 due to popular demand, and has continued to grow ever since.
Bush is said to have been inspired to write the famous song after watching the 1967 BBC adaptation of Emily Bronte’s 1847 Wuthering Heights novel, producing the lyrics from the perspective of heroine Catherine Earnshaw.
READ OUR ORIGINAL INTERVIEW WITH FOUNDING MEMBER TOBY COTTON HERE
Image by Andy Aitchison - www.andyaitchison.uk
