Visitors flock to Crewe to see giant puppets, parades and performers at the first Crewe Day Festival event!

The first Crewe Day Festival took place over the weekend of 4th – 6th July, with thousands of visitors attending the festivities in the town centre over the duration of the event.

The main activity day of this fabulous FREE family-friendly festival, which will return to Crewe annually, took place in the town centre on Saturday 5th July and featured:

A fantastic carnival procession featuring 13ft tall Carnival Queen puppets from Global Grooves and the Parade Giant Wheel from Autin Dance, alongside a community cast of 140 performers from local organisations including Hopes & Beams, Camm Street Gymnastics, TGA Street Dance Crewe, Stepz School of Dance and the Wilderness Tribe!

Live community performances on Memorial Square from The Swinging Woodpeckers, Crewe Concert Band and Faye McCallum, compered by the Cat Radio

A visit from the steam loco Black 5 Engine 45212 to Crewe Heritage Centre to celebrate Crewe Day!

Fun Crewe Day Crafts run by Crewe Creates and the Crewe Lyceum

The Co-Op’s celebration at Crewe Heritage Centre of the 180th anniversary of the first cooperative society in Crewe and also the UN declaring 2025 the Year of International Cooperatives

An artisan market, brought to the event by JDL Mini Markets

Stanworth’s mini-fairground on Prince Albert Street

Community is at the heart of the Crewe Day Festival

A key part of the Crewe Day Festival activities is community participation and local organisations prepared for the main event day with Autin Dance and Global Grooves by learning new skills such as dance and expressive movement at workshops which were shown off during the parades!

The parade processions celebrated the beauty, power and impact of people from different walks of life coming together and showed various journeys through music, puppetry, street performance, flag waving and more.

The Crewe Day Festival is a summer celebration of Crewe and its people and the event saw the town come together to show that community spirit is at the forefront of what makes Crewe special.

What is Crewe Day?

Crewe Day commemorates the anniversary of the first trains passing through Crewe Station, during the opening of the Birmingham to Manchester and Liverpool line on 4th July 1837. This is a key moment in the town’s industrial heritage and a catalyst to the creation of the Crewe we know today. Crewe is an amazing place – it deserves to be celebrated for its community, heritage and unique identity!

Get involved in the Crewe Day Festival

The Crewe Day Festival will return on an annual basis to commemorate the arrival of the first trains in Crewe and to celebrate the Crewe community as it is today! Local organisations, individuals and suppliers that would like to be involved in future years can find out more from the Crewe Town Council website:

➡️ www.crewetowncouncil.gov.uk/crewe-day-festival/

A Crewe Town Council spokesperson commented: 

"It was fantastic to see so many people come together in Crewe town centre as we launched this vibrant annual cultural event for the first time. The Crewe Day Festival celebrates Crewe's rich culture, heritage, community and unique identity and it was the people of Crewe that made the event a success. We can’t wait to see the community participation elements of the event increase in future years and would love to see the Festival grow in 2026!"