The home of automatic scootering

Folkestone Skabour Festival – the final line-up

This is the first Skabour Festival to be held in Folkestone, Kent and the vision of John (Teflon) Sims, a graphic designer who worked closely with Jerry Dammers of The Specials to create the imagery that represented the 2-Tone movement. John’s work will also be on display in three locations around the town.

Teflon says: “Putting on the first of any music festival is a journey into the unknown. The event is as much about supporting the Folkestone regeneration initiative as it is about the music. The town has fantastic potential as a festival venue both for local people and those from further afield, particularly now that with the high speed train from London, Folkestone is the nearest coastal resort in terms of time (51 minutes) from the capital. We want people to know what a great place this is... endorsed by the fact that it has been designated ‘17th best UK seaside town’ in a survey published this month”.

Music festivals can be fickle things financially and the challenges of keeping within budget; offering two free days of events and to do all of this on a not-for-profit basis  has meant that the organisers have had their work cut-out.

Teflon says: “Were it not for all of the artists offering to support this event at reduced rates and expenses (or in many cases, free of charge), the line-up would not look anything like as extensive as it does. So it is with tremendous thanks to them, sponsors and other supporters that we can put on such a fantastic show.

There has been a real interest and air of excitement about this festival combined with a resurging interest in Ska music”.

Teflon continues: “However, we are reliant on festival goers supporting the free daytime events by buying tickets for the Saturday evening acts. These include Rhoda Dakar (DJ set), Arthur Kay & The Originals, Intensified, Simian Artillery, The Swinging Cats and Scaredy Cats... It’s going to be some party!”

A full festival line-up and programme of events can be found at www.folkestoneskabourfestival.co.uk

 

EDITOR’S NOTES:

Folkestone Skabour Festival is a trading name of Folkestone Fringe Festival CIC, a not for profit company.

The survey referred to was produced by Halifax.

The Friday night headline act THE BEAT and support at Quarterhouse is close to being sold out.