Event Categories: Festival

Quest-Fest!

Come and join the magical world of Questing Stories,

Quest-Fest is a celebration of fantasy fiction, steampunk and creative art, so let your inner geek out!

Take a wander around our black market and purchase your spells and tomes, or toys and dice, what ever takes your fancy adventurer.

Join in our workshops, designed to put your creativity to the test, with potion making, wand making, pottery, creative writing, Axe throwing and more.

Interact with Characters around the festival and become in-brawled in an ancient conflict between the Humans and the Fae Folk, but watch out for the Warden otherwise you’ll find yourself grafting in the infamous Grimstone prison.

throughout the festival there will be live improv performances from the Questing team and their new show ‘Whose roll is it anyway’ as well as live artists.

Show off your best fantasy or steampunk Cosplay outfits and join our competition, judged by Steve Mussared, original artist and games designer for Games Workshop! with a plethora of prizes to be won.

Food stalls, A bar, Gaming Tables, and Goblins. Need we say more?

The festival will be open 10am-4pm for our family friendly activities with a quiet hour to begin with. From 5pm-11pm the festival will turn into an over 18’s environment, with drinks galore and merriment to be had!

When you arrive at the festival show your ticket to the iron bank and you will receive five gold coins, you can use these coins to take part in our workshop experiences, and questing stories stall. For the over 18’s why not trade a coin and roll the dice for one of our mystery shot potions and you can always withdraw more coins from the bank for a like for like trade of just £1.

All Live performances, gaming tables and competitions are included with your ticket.

Thanks to Healthy Holidays we have 100 free tickets to give away to young people, aged 5-16, if you or a young person you know is a Hull resident and a fan of live performances and fantasy fiction then all you need to do to claim your free ticket is email our team at questingstories@gmail.com.

These free tickets also come with five gold coins to spend on the amazing activities on offer and a free pack lunch!

Don’t miss out.

Highway to Hull Burlesque and cabaret festival

Highway to Hull is a bold, grassroots burlesque and cabaret festival held annually in Hull, UK. Now in its third year, the festival brings together internationally renowned performers, emerging talent, and the vibrant local community for a long weekend of shows, workshops, talks, and celebrations of the art of burlesque.

Founded and co-produced by Tawny Kay (aka “the Pat Butcher of burlesque”) and Roxie Royale, the festival centres disabled, queer, and working-class voices and prides itself on being one of the most inclusive and accessible events in the UK cabaret calendar. Taking place at the DoubleTree by Hilton to improve accessibility and lower the carbon footprint, Highway to Hull offers a diverse programme designed to entertain, empower, and educate.

With five major shows across the weekend, including the iconic Legends & Icons night, Highway to Hull honours burlesque history while championing the future. The festival features living legends such as Judith Stein and Goodtime Mama Jojo, and showcases the next generation of changemakers through scholarship schemes, pay-it-forward ticketing, and the UK-wide Star Search competition.

More than just a performance festival, Highway to Hull includes panel discussions, vintage markets, bingo, photography, and opportunities for industry development. It is a living archive of UK burlesque past and present, with tributes to pioneers and a commitment to making space for marginalised artists.

Driven by community, creativity, and care, Highway to Hull is not just a celebration—it’s a movement.

Hull Jazz Festival: Mambo Jambo and Joe Martin

Eclectic genre-defying, Mambo Jambo are joined by violinist extraordinaire, Joe ‘Hotbow’ Martin for spontaneous, joyful music making. Expect all sorts of musical wildness, a mash-up of some swing, some Latin American, Cajun, Eastern European, some folky Bluegrass, plus original pieces that they composed together for last year’s Out Of The Box Festival.  Some may remember Joe from when he was fronting the legendary Hull band ‘Ain’t Misbehavin’ and leading them to perform at the Montreux Jazz Festival.

Hull Jazz Festival: Hull Youth Jazz Orchestra with Humber Music Hub Ensembles

The culmination of a celebratory Youth Jazz Orchestra project with young musicians gathered from across the Humber region. Duke Ellington and Charlie Mingus are at the heart of this project alongside other pieces especially arranged for the Festival by Humber Music Hub, showing how healthy the modern jazz scene is.

Priority booking until 15/7.

Hull Jazz Festival: Deirdre Cartwright Organik Trio

Deirdre Cartwright Organik Trio featuring Deirdre Cartwright (guitar); Pete Whittaker (organ); Gary Hammond (percussion).

Celebrating the classic jazz organ-guitar trios of the 1960s Kenny Burrell & Jimmy Smith, Grant Green & Larry Young, Wes Montgomery & Melvin Rhyne, plus some original takes on The Beatles, Doors, Curtis Mayfield and Kate Bush. Swing, grooves and inventive improvisation between these outstanding musicians led by award winning guitarist and composer Deirdre Cartwright who became well known presenting the BBC TV’s ground-breaking series ‘Rockschool’.

‘If there is a more complete guitarist in contemporary music than Deirdre Cartwright, I’d like to know who it is’ - Dave Gelly, the Observer

Priority booking until 15/7.

Hull Jazz Festival: Joseph Cox & Gary Hammond: Convergence / Meridian: Claire Holdich & Stephanie Halsey ‘Awakening’

A highly atmospheric double-bill featuring Meridian, a flute and harp duo, who craft original compositions, seamlessly blending live improvisation, electronic soundscapes, field recordings, Native American-style flutes, and world instruments, inspired by a passion for mindfulness, yoga, and meditation.

They are joined by Convergence, whose work moves between many genres and features electronic musician Joe Cox and percussionist Gary Hammond, who has worked with countless jazz and rock artists including The Beautiful South, Noel Gallagher and Nina Simone.

Healthy Holidays Hull

The holiday activities and food (HAF) programme provides healthy meals, enriching activities, and free childcare places to children from low-income families, benefiting their health, wellbeing and learning.

Since 2022, the HAF programme has provided 15.6 million HAF days to children and young people in this country. Across the 2023 to 2024 academic year, almost 5 million HAF days were provided during winter, Easter, and summer delivery.

The programme, though aimed at children in receipt of benefits related free school meals (FSMs) is not exclusively for them and as set out in this guidance. We encourage local authorities to use up to 15% of their funding to provide free or subsidised holiday club places for children who are not in receipt of benefits related FSMs but who the local authority believe could benefit from HAF.

This year they have events running between 23/7 – 29/08.

Looking for more information? Either click the ‘Discover More’ link below, or check out any of our other website listings here:

Healthy Holiday Family Events

Healthy Holiday Events: North Hull

Healthy Holiday Events: West Hull

Healthy Holiday Events: East Hull

Healthy Holiday Events: Hull Music Service

Healthy Holiday Events for 11 – 16 year olds

Healthy Holiday Events for 11 – 16 year olds

Here you can find the link to details of the activities and events for 11 – 16 year olds taking place as part of Healthy Holidays this year.

There is something for everyone, have a wonderful time!

Assorted events between 23/7 and 29/08. Click ‘Discover More’ to find out further dates and details!

Healthy Holiday Family Events

Here you can find the link to details of the family friendly activities and events taking place as part of Healthy Holidays this year.

There is something for everyone, have a wonderful time!

Assorted events between 23/7 and 29/08. Click ‘Discover More’ to find out further dates and details!

Healthy Holiday Events: North Hull

Here you can find the link to details of the activities taking place in the North of Hull as part of Healthy Holidays this year. Some are in the directories and some are on the websites of our partner organisations; Sportsability, Hull FC Foundation, Tigers Trust, First Step Sports, Street Games and Hull Culture and Leisure.

There is something for everyone, have a wonderful time!

Assorted events between 23/7 and 29/08. Click ‘Discover More’ to find out further dates and details!

Healthy Holiday Events: West Hull

Here you can find the link to details of the activities taking place in the West of Hull as part of Healthy Holidays this year. Some are in the directories and some are on the websites of our partner organisations; Sportsability, Hull FC Foundation, Tigers Trust, First Step Sports, Street Games and Hull Culture and Leisure.

There is something for everyone, have a wonderful time!

Assorted events between 23/7 and 29/08. Click ‘Discover More’ to find out further dates and details!

Healthy Holiday Events: East Hull

Here you can find the link to details of the activities taking place in the East of Hull as part of Healthy Holidays this year. Some are in the directories and some are on the websites of our partner organisations; Sportsability, Hull FC Foundation, Tigers Trust, First Step Sports, Street Games and Hull Culture and Leisure.

There is something for everyone, have a wonderful time!

Assorted events between 23/7 and 29/08. Click ‘Discover More’ to find out further dates and details!

Healthy Holiday Events: Hull Music Service

Hull City Council’s Music Service are part of this summer’s Healthy Holidays Hull Programme.

They are running a variety of sessions across the city including DJing, Music Production, Singing workshops, Rap workshops, Rock Band Workshops and Creative Music Sessions. These sessions will be held across a number of different venues. For more information on what is happening this summer in the Music Service check out the ‘discover more’ link below.

 

Assorted dates available between 29/7 and 28/8. Click below for further dates.

Beer Festival 2026

We have been running our successful Beer since 2021. If you would like to be kept informed about our April 26 Beer Festival, leave your details here.

If you would like to be an exhibiting brewer let us know in the notes.

Queerphoria

Queerphoria – supporting queer people not corporations.

Come see the work of queer artists and there unique crafts they have for sale!

Mini market, music, social, clothes swap, cocktails and coffee.

 

Fresh Ink: Hull Playwriting Festival

After its successful debut last year, Fresh Ink returns to Hull’s Fruit Market, with exciting events taking place across two days in July. Fresh Ink: Hull Playwriting Festival is an annual theatre festival designed to support writers with a connection to Hull to create and develop new plays in the city. Audiences can enjoy a wide range of events including script-in-hand performances of early versions of new plays, writer workshops, industry talks and two keynote speeches.

The festival takes place across two venues in Hull’s Fruit Market quarter, Stage@TheDock and the pop-up space on Pier Street, on the weekend of 19-20 July 2025.

All performances and talks at Stage@TheDock will be hosted inside a weatherproof marquee and workshops and talks will take place inside the venue 1-2 Pier Street. Audiences are encouraged to make use of the fantastic range of independent cafes, restaurants and bars on Humber Street and the Fruit Market area.

Fresh Ink is produced by co-founders Middle Child and sponsored by co-founders Wykeland, with support from J F Brignall Charitable Trust, Hull City Council, the University of Hull, Hull Truck Theatre and Garrick Charitable Trust.

Festival-goers will see new plays commissioned especially for the festival, from writers with a connection to the city, and workshops and talks from some of the most exciting names in the industry.

Workshops with Javaad Alipoor, Holly Beasley-Garrigan, Lydia Marchant, Nathan Queeley Dennis and Tom Wells. Talks by Tabby Lamb, Cheryl Martin (Red Ladder), Holly Williams (Exeunt Magazine) and Matt Woodhead (Lung Theatre). Keynote speeches from Ola Animashawun and Maureen Lennon. New plays by Ellen Brammar, Jim Norris, Noor Sobka, Jay Grainger and Samuel Sims, Michelle Kelly, Laura Wilson and Sean Climmie.

Other events include readings from Middle Child’s writers’ group, relaxed networking sessions and a sharing of an extract from Middle Child’s flagship show for 2026, by Marc Graham.

To keep the festival affordable for audience members and participants, most of the events are priced on a Pay What You Decide scheme, where you can choose to pay anything between £3-10. Other events are free, but booking is still required.

Age recommendation for events across the festival is 14+, with parental discretion.