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Cornwall’s Festivals and Events: A Month-by-Month Guide

Quick answer: Cornwall’s calendar runs from ancient May Day rites — Padstow’s ‘Obby ‘Oss and Helston’s Flora Day — through midsummer’s Golowan in Penzance, a summer of regattas, shanty singing and Boardmasters, autumn’s food and folk festivals, to Montol at midwinter and Tom Bawcock’s Eve in Mousehole. Some are among the oldest living traditions in Britain; some are very good parties. Month by month, with what to expect and how to plan around them, below.

Cornwall keeps its old customs with a straight face and a full heart — a town will stop for a day to dance a hobby horse through its streets because it always has — and it has bolted a modern festival scene onto them without embarrassment. Timing a visit to catch one is one of the best things you can do here, and knowing when they fall matters even if you’d rather avoid the crowds. This is the calendar, month by month, from the great fixtures to the local days worth planning around.

Table of Contents

  1. Spring: March to May
  2. Summer: June to August
  3. Autumn: September to November
  4. Winter: December to February
  5. Planning around the festivals
  6. Personal insights and experiences
  7. FAQ
  8. References and resources

Spring: March to May

  • St Piran’s Day, 5 March — Cornwall’s national day: black-and-white flags everywhere, parades in towns across the county, and the great procession across the dunes at Perranporth to St Piran’s Oratory, the saint’s lost chapel in the sand.
  • Trevithick Day, Camborne, late April — steam engines parade through the town in honour of Richard Trevithick, the Camborne engineer who ran the world’s first steam locomotive; see our mining heritage guide.
  • Padstow ‘Obby ‘Oss, 1 May — one of the oldest surviving May Day customs in Europe: two hobby horses, the Old and the Blue Ribbon, dance through a town garlanded in greenery from dawn to dark to a hypnotic drum-and-accordion song, and the whole place is heaving. Extraordinary; go once in your life, and stay over rather than drive in.
  • Helston Flora Day, 8 May (or the nearest Saturday when the 8th is a Sunday or Monday) — the Furry Dance: couples in morning dress and ball gowns dancing through the streets and in and out of the houses to the town band, plus the ancient Hal-an-Tow pageant. Utterly Cornish and utterly formal.
  • May bank holidays — regattas, garden festivals, and the start of the Minack season.

Summer: June to August

  • Royal Cornwall Show, Wadebridge, early June — the county’s agricultural show and its biggest single event: livestock, food halls, machinery, and every farmer in Cornwall.
  • Falmouth International Sea Shanty Festival, June — hundreds of shanty crews singing on the harbour, in the pubs and on the streets; free, joyous, and loud.
  • Golowan, Penzance, late June — the midsummer festival revived from ancient roots: ten days of music, processions, fire and dance, climaxing on Mazey Day when the whole town parades in costume behind giant figures. The pirate connection is never far away.
  • Fowey Festival of Arts and Literature, May–June — books and talks in du Maurier’s town.
  • Falmouth Week, August — sailing regatta by day, music and fireworks by night; the biggest on the south coast.
  • Boardmasters, Watergate Bay and Fistral, August — the surf and music festival: big acts on the cliff, surf contests on the beach, tens of thousands of people and every bed in Newquay taken. Plan around it whether you’re going or not — see our August guide.
  • Harbour days and regattas — nearly every fishing village has one: Looe, Mevagissey, Polperro, Port Isaac, St Ives, Newlyn — greasy poles, gig racing, crab races and fireworks over the water. Check the local listings for the week you’re there.
  • Cornwall Folk Festival, Wadebridge, August bank holiday — music, dance and storytelling; see our storytelling guide.

Autumn: September to November

  • St Ives September Festival — two weeks of music, art and talks in the galleries and pubs of the town, as the crowds thin and the light turns golden; the perfect excuse for a September visit.
  • Food festivals — Cornwall’s harvest of food events peaks in autumn, from the big Truro and Falmouth food weekends to oyster festivals on the Fal; see our seafood guide.
  • Lowender Peran, October — the Celtic festival of music and dance, gathering the Celtic nations to Cornwall.
  • Bonfire night and Allantide — Cornwall’s own Halloween, Allantide, with its polished apples, survives in the far west; and bonfire night on a Cornish beach is a fine thing.

Winter: December to February

  • Montol, Penzance, 21 December — the midwinter festival: masks, guise dancing, fire and lanterns through the streets at the solstice. Golowan’s dark twin, and wonderful.
  • Mousehole Christmas lights and Tom Bawcock’s Eve, 23 December — the harbour lights are famous; Tom Bawcock’s Eve celebrates the fisherman who saved the village from starvation, with stargazy pie (fish heads poking through the crust) and a lantern procession. The lights are dimmed for an hour on 19 December in memory of the Penlee lifeboat crew; see our maritime heritage guide.
  • New Year’s Eve, St Ives — the whole town in fancy dress on the harbour, and Looe’s New Year is not far behind.
  • February — the quiet month, and the start of the daffodils and camellias in the great gardens.

Planning around the festivals

  • Book accommodation months ahead for ‘Obby ‘Oss, Flora Day, Boardmasters and Falmouth Week — the towns fill completely.
  • Don’t drive into the town on the day — Padstow and Helston close roads; use park-and-ride or public transport, or stay walking distance away.
  • Check dates each year — many festivals move with the calendar or the tides, and the smaller ones change; the town’s own website or Visit Cornwall’s listings are the source of truth.
  • The village events — regattas, harbour days, feast weeks — are often the best of the lot and the least advertised: ask at the pub.

Personal insights and experiences

Honesty first: we’re not festival people by instinct — our family’s Cornwall runs more to beaches, tides and campfires than to crowds — and there are events on this list I’ve read about far more than I’ve stood in. But the calendar shapes every trip whether you go to the events or not: it decides when Padstow is impassable, when Newquay’s beds are gone, when St Ives is at its best. So this page is written the way we use it — as the map of when Cornwall is doing what — and the ones I most want to see for myself are the ancient ones: the ‘Oss on May morning, and Montol’s fire in the dark.

FAQ

Q: What is the most famous festival in Cornwall?
A: Padstow’s ‘Obby ‘Oss on 1 May and Helston’s Flora Day on 8 May are the great ancient customs; Boardmasters in August is the biggest modern festival.

Q: When is Golowan?
A: Late June in Penzance, around midsummer, culminating in Mazey Day’s costumed parade through the town.

Q: When are the Mousehole Christmas lights?
A: Through December into early January, with Tom Bawcock’s Eve on 23 December and the lights dimmed for an hour on 19 December in memory of the Penlee lifeboat crew.

Q: Is St Piran’s Day a public holiday in Cornwall?
A: Not officially, but 5 March is widely marked with parades and flags across the county and the walk to St Piran’s Oratory at Perranporth.

References and resources