Lancashire Encounter festival to pay tribute to Her Majesty at this weekends event

Families will gather in Lancashire for a three-day event that will bring a fusion of dance, music, theatre and food while celebrating life this weekend.

Lancashire Encounter festival intends to celebrate culture – and pay tribute to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II across the weekend.

The event will also act as a celebration of life and pay a special tribute to Her Majesty the Queen as part of a torchlight procession through Preston on the Saturday night. There will be a special memorial service at Preston Minster at 2pm on Saturday for those who want to pay their respects.

Preston City Council announced this week the festival would continue, running from Friday, September 16 to Sunday, September 18.

Executive producer Esther Ferry-Kennington said lengthy conversations had been conducted around what would be fitting in this time of national mourning.

She said: “Because we’re in such difficult times it feels really important to ensure that free activities are still available for families and that there is still economic activity being brought into the city centre.

“The torchlight procession will acknowledge Her Majesty the Queen’s service to the nation with cadets carrying photographs of her from different eras of her life. We want this event to be a celebration of life and show the good that can happen when communities come together.”

The action, centering on Preston, aims to attract thousands of people to celebrate the inspiring creativity and diversity of Lancashire and the festival promises something for people of all ages.

Commenting on the go-ahead, Cabinet Member for Culture and Arts Councillor Peter Kelly said: “Under the current sad circumstances, we have conducted lengthy conversations around what would be fitting in this time of national mourning.

“However, the Lancashire Encounter Festival has been planned for months with a lot of hard work behind the scenes to make the three-day event a worthy attraction for the people of Preston and wider Lancashire.”

You can find out more about the festival here.