This month, Boomtown Fair will make its highly awaited return for Chapter One: The Gathering, as the UK’s largest independent music and theatrical event along with fresh themes and initiatives.
Following the forced hiatus during the pandemic, Boomtown have utilised their time to reflect and reset on the past 11 instalments of the festival. Marking a new beginning, Chapter One will see new stages and productions come alive within the festival, revamped camping locations and most importantly launching their own sustainability campaign.
Ranked in the top 10 global music festivals by the Global Festival Index, Boomtown are leading by example of how the events industry can improve the carbon footprint by becoming one of the first UK festivals to sign a Green Deal and commit to being Net Zero by 2025. It’s always been Boomtown’s ongoing priority is to protect the environment from the impact of an event of its size, to raise awareness and inspire ongoing behavioural change not just from those who are a part of the industry but also the public that attend Boomtown.
Their key commitments include, switching fuel to hydro-treated vegetable oil (HVO), which will reduce emissions from fuel consumption by 90% whilst their brand new main stage Origin, is being built using with real plants and sustainable materials, a lot which has been recycled from their previous main stage Lion’s Den.
They already eliminated single use plastics back in 2019, this year they will continue to encourage everyone to bring their own reusable bottles and food serveware and 100% of the food serveware available at the festival is compostable. Aware it takes more than one person to create an impactful improvement to the climate, Boomtown have enlisted mobile pop-up sound systems and Eco-Warriors so festival goers can get involved in the big Boomtown tidy. The Eco-Warriors will be handing out free 2023 festival tickets and merchandise to the cleanest camps and those doing their best to keep the South Downs National Park clean and free from litter.
Protecting the environment requires a global effort beyond the festival grounds. With that in mind, the festival have also partnered with Tree Sisters and have planted 100,000 trees so far around the world from Madagascar to Nepal. Boomtown will continue to plant trees, contributing to one of the most powerful solutions for climate change.
With these initiatives in place, Boomtown continues to be a leading festival in the events industry inspiring change. With a solid sustainability structure in place, the festival is more than equipped to welcome the finest talent from all corners of the globe once more. Highlighting the importance of the experience rather than who’s playing, their unreleased lineup only add to the beauty of the five day extravaganza. With previous artists including Lauryn Hill, Four Tet, The Streets, Carl Cox and more, Boomtown are notorious for their musical diversity that is sure to pleasantly surprise for their return this year.
Boomtown takes place on 10th-14th August. For more information on Boomtown’s Green Mission head to their website here
