That’s a wrap! Kendal Calling drew to a close last night and now thousands of people will be leaving after a weekend of wonder.
The event, at Lowther Deer Park, near Penrith, saw headliners including Fatboy Slim, The Prodigy and Kaiser Chiefs take to the fields for its 20th anniversary.
From humble beginnings as a two-day party in 2006 to growing into an award-winning event bringing huge artists – it’s a festival that has quickly become a household name.
People are urged to take as much as they can home with them . Last year, festival goers took home 98.9 per cent of tents, beating 2023’s total of 98.07 per cent and 2022’s total of 98.03 per cent – but only time will tell if this year marks another improvement.
Co-founder Andy Smith said: “It’s one of the scariest things going into the festival thinking what’s it going to be like with tents this year.
“It was such a wholesale change when we asked the audience can we please make a difference, and individually, none can solve this, but collectively, we can and we very nearly have.
“It’s not something I ever thought was possible, but we can do it, long may it continue.”
Andy, who has been running the festival since he was 18 years old, said it was a privilege to bring a festival that grows to the size of the third largest town in the county to Cumbrian every year.
He added that over the years the team has heard tales ranging from a headliner getting stuck in the toilet, to unbelievable coincidences, including one occasion where a man in quiet camping told the tent next to him to quiet down at 3am, only to realise it was his neighbour from the Isle of Man.
Plenty of love stories have also happened on site too, including old flames bumping into each other for the first time in 20 years only to get married 12 months later.
Unexpected encounters including a group of friends who ended up backstage because they helped push a broken down tour bus and magical ones, including a child who lost their teddy, only for it to reappear onstage during a set.
Andy said: “We are so incredibly fortunate to have created a festival that has really taken people’s imagination and that they’ve enjoyed coming back to it every single year.
“It’s a real privilege to be involved in so many people’s lovely stories too. I was chatting to one of the bar staff last year and he said ‘oh it’s not my first time’ and I said ‘how long have you been coming?’ and he said since he was about four years old!
“We do want it to be a right of passage but we want it to also be something that people all come back to, my group of friends are scattered around the country and world, but it’s the festival is that one focal point of the year where we’ll see everybody.
“We don’t want to lose the identity of the festival, so it’s grown slowly as we have grown and aged as people, and we seem to have got it right, because we’ve sold out every year for 20 years.
“But our Cumbrian roots are certainly something we’re very proud of, who isn’t who has had the luxury of growing up here?”
This year has been no exception to Kendal Calling’s sell-out rule, and tickets for the show’s 20th birthday sold out 10 months ahead of the festival.
So many tales have been told to Andy and the team, that they are planning to publish a book to celebrate 20 years of Kendal Calling antics this Christmas – with all proceeds going to charity.
Andy said: “We are writing a book at the moment to celebrate the 20 years, we’ve actually gone out to the audience and to people who’ve worked on the show and asked for their stories, anecdotes and memories of working on the show.
“Seeing some of the things come in is marvellous, we’ve got an entire chapter dedicated to people who met their loved ones, fell in love, had children coming along or had children who were conceived at the festival, there’s a lot of families growing up there, it’s brilliant.
“What was extra special about that was reading a few submissions and then recognising the name at the end and realising oh, that’s my friend, I’d forgot how many of my friends had met loved ones at the festival.
“It’s where I met my partner, you meet a lot of people there and it’s a wonderful time to share and a great place to be.”
Bryn Wilson, 54, and Jo Lynch, 54, from Leeds and York, got engaged on Thursday beneath Kendal’s Lost Eden Earth while working as part of the Festival Angels team.
Bryn used a Haribo ring to propose and the pair plan to get a real ring later.
Jo said while she normally likes to stay in the know of everything going on that Bryn succeeded in surprising her with the proposal.
She said: “I thought he’s never going to catch me out with it, but he really did!
“He got down on one knee with a Haribo ring, I think we’ve gone through a whole bag over the last four days!”
The pair have volunteered for the organisation for around nine years covering Leeds fest but only properly crossed paths and started to speak to one another around three years ago.
They really liked each other, but with various things going on in their lives, it wasn’t until the following year that they started to date.
Bryn said: “It’s been an absolutely brilliant weekend because she said yes.”
The pair have volunteered at Kendal Calling for the past two years and it means a lot to them, as it marks some of their first proper time spent together as a couple.
Bryn said he planned in advance to propose at the festival as it has a friendly, calm and open atmosphere.
Bryn said he was excited to propose to Jo and added: “I just want to spend the rest of my life with her.”
Some of the Festival Angel team also threw the couple a little surprise celebration on their engagement with cake and prosecco handed out in their tent.
The pair plan to return to Kendal Calling to volunteer again next year.
