Enjoy a free summer street party in St Albans on 25th June!

A spectacular summer street party in St Albans will include live music, food and drink stalls, theatre, sport and computer gaming.

These are among the vast range of free activities that are on offer for all ages at the Alban Street Festival on Sunday 25th June as part of the Alban Weekend. Around 14,000 residents and visitors are expected to enjoy the street festival that takes over the City Centre with St Peter’s Street closed to traffic.

New attractions for this year include storytelling sessions, short meditation courses and comic book workshops. By popular demand, the Minecraft Hackathon returns for a second year – giving people the chance to build the historic City using the best-selling computer game.

The Alban Weekend’s other attraction is the Alban Pilgrimage which takes place on Saturday 24th June. This includes a parade of giant puppets that celebrates Saint Alban, the first recorded Christian martyr in Britain, who was beheaded by the Romans. The story of the man whom the City is named after is brought back to life in a procession of Roman chariots, centurions, lions and executioners. This dramatic carnival starts at St Peter’s Church, St Peter’s Street, at 11am. It makes its way through the City Centre alongside the Charter Market to St Albans Cathedral for the Festival Eucharist.

On Sunday 25th June, the City Centre will be the scene of a six-hour-long street party, organised by St Albans City and District Council beginning at noon. It includes two live music stages at either end of St Peter’s Street. At the Taxi Rank Stage, opposite the Beech House, there is a line-up of groups to suit all musical tastes. One of the highlights will be a mass ceilidh at 4pm. Among the performers are the King of Herts Barbershop Chorus, Drumming is Fun, Tumblewood and The Joe Henderson Jazz Band.

At The Stage on the Sand in Market Place, a beach area complete with deckchairs will provide a relaxed atmosphere to showcase a number of local bands. These include UR Crew, Beth Hedges, Supermoon, The Skeltons, Minnie Birch and Kaity Rae.

Among the other attractions are:

• The Imaginarium – story telling and theatre sessions with the Booster Cushion Theatre and Professor Pango Mango among the performers in a bespoke big-top tent;
• Drawsome – art and design workshops hosted by local firms Chaos City Comics and children’s publisher Boxer Books;
• Sports Arena – sampler sessions of football, golf and tennis with the chance to take a health MoT;
• Minecraft Hackathon – 30-minute drop-in sessions where people can attempt to recreate St Albans in Minecraft; and,
• Mindfulness Sessions with local company Mindful Pathway - 20 minute drop in meditation at The Vintry Gardens for all levels of interest and experience (not suitable for under 14s).

Adding to the atmosphere of the street festival will be 80-plus food and drink stalls, a mobile cocktail bar, picnic tables, street performers and face painters.

Councillor Beric Read, Portfolio Holder for Business and the Community for St Albans City and District Council, said: “These are two enthralling days and I urge people not to miss these events. The Pilgrimage is a tremendous spectacle that reminds people of this City’s long and extraordinary history while the street festival is a particularly vibrant event that keeps getting bigger and better. It provides a great wealth of entertainment to suit people of all ages and interests and is set against the backdrop of our historic City Centre.”

For more details about the Pilgrimage and street festival, see www.enjoystalbans.com/AlbanWeekend.

(Source: St Albans City and District Council)