The seeds of ideas quietly germinating since winter are shooting up behind the scenes
The seeds of quirky ideas for this year’s Settle Flowerpot Festival have been quietly germinating since the depths of winter and are now shooting up behind the scenes at the festival Potting Shed and in homes and businesses around the town ahead of the upcoming big reveal.
The 2025 festival begins on Saturday 13th July and will run through to 1st September for a summer of free family fun.
After last year’s dismal spring, the organisers and participants have been rewarded this time with warm weather, far more conducive to pottering about nurturing the new dotty displays guaranteed to enthral the thousands of visitors of all ages who will enjoy the Festival.
A bumper crop of more than 200 exhibits will soon be adorning the town, using more than 4000 flowerpots, many recycled from previous years and others donated and collected over the course of the year.
Without giving away too many spoilers, among the exhibits visitors can expect to see steeplejack and TV personality Fred Dibnah featured climbing the tall chimney at Watershed Mill. Also scaling the heights will be the Bishop on top of the parish church tower.
Henry VIII will make a portly appearance with Ann Boleyn – minus her head, of course. And she’s not the only one missing something; on Duke Street, Nelson’s Footwear will pay tribute to the armless Admiral Nelson and HMS Victory, while – obviously without clothes – a Naked Man will feature at the eponymous café bakery.
Kids will love the quartet of Paw Patrol characters and there’ll be a cracking Wallace & Gromit display.
These and many more can be discovered with the help of trail sheets for visitors to follow, exploring the town beyond the picturesque market square and usual tourist haunts to find many installations hidden away off the beaten track.
Richard Handscombe of Settle Flowerpot Festival CIC which organises the Festival explains:
Once again the community has managed to find the inspiration and skills to put together a fabulous event that’s free to enjoy, bringing around 20,000 visitors to boost the local economy.
