16/09/2026
YOUR FEEDBACK – WE’VE BEEN LISTENING! ❤️
Firstly, a huge thank you to everyone who took the time to complete our Summerfest questionnaire. The feedback has been incredibly useful and, overwhelmingly, incredibly kind.
The big message coming through is that you love Summerfest for what it is: a small, friendly, family festival with a great atmosphere, an eclectic mix of music and a real sense of community. People told us they felt safe, welcomed and that the size of the festival is part of what makes it special. Most importantly, the overwhelming majority said they had a brilliant weekend, would come back and would recommend Summerfest to others.
That means a huge amount to a team of volunteers who put so much into making the weekend happen.
You also told us that Summerfest represents very good value for money. As we’ve said before, ticket income essentially covers the cost of putting the festival on, while the money we make elsewhere helps us support charities and good causes. Most people said they would be comfortable with a modest increase in ticket prices next year.
Our cheapest tickets will always go to those who book early, and we’ll make more tickets available on payment plans so that the cost can be spread over several months. We’re also looking at bringing back a limited number of day tickets.
Of course, it wasn’t all praise – and we didn’t want it to be! We asked what we could do better because we genuinely want to improve. There were some really sensible suggestions, so here’s what you told us and what we’re going to look at for 2027…
FOOD 🍔🌮🍜
The clearest message: more food!
We completely agree. We were actually meant to have another vendor this year, but unfortunately they pulled out. We’ll certainly look at adding one or two more options next year.
Thai food was a popular suggestion, as was something a little healthier, and several people asked for more affordable options. Different vendors will inevitably have different price points, but we’ll see what we can find.
Breakfast also came up quite a lot, particularly for campers. One idea is to speak to our lovely local pub about offering pre-bookable breakfasts. We’d actually like to involve the pub more generally next year, giving people another food option and somewhere to escape the festival for a little while if they fancy a change of scenery.
DRINK 🍺🍹🥂
Prosecco and an IPA were both requested – noted!
The vast majority of you felt our bar prices represented good value, particularly compared with other festivals and, increasingly, pub prices. A reminder that our bar is where we make most of our money for charity and good causes. Even if you do spend a bit more than planned, you are doing a lot of good in the process!
The cocktails were VERY popular. In fact, you virtually drank us dry, so they’ll definitely be back!
Tea and coffee also came up quite a few times, so a dedicated vendor might be worth exploring.
We also need to make our free drinking water more obvious. Tap water was available from the bars, but clearly not everyone knew that, so we’ll improve the signage next year.
MUSIC 🎸🎧🎤
Unsurprisingly, Scouting for Girls received a lot of love, but what was really interesting was just how varied everyone’s favourite bands, singers and DJs were.
For us, that’s brilliant because one of the things we’ve always tried to do with Summerfest is create a line-up with something for everyone. Your answers suggest that’s working.
A few people mentioned hearing the same songs performed by different bands over the weekend. We don’t want to dictate what our artists play, but we can potentially ask bands to share their set lists beforehand so we can spot if the same songs are cropping up too often. Hearing two different takes on a great song can be fun; hearing it four times in one weekend probably less so!
You’d also like to hear a little more reggae, country and garage alongside the styles we already feature, so we’ll bear that in mind when putting the 2027 line-up together.
Encouragingly, quite a few of the names we’ve already been discussing for next year appeared in your suggestions too… 👀
A few people asked about putting DJs on the Main Stage. We understand why, but this is one area where we have to balance what happens inside the festival with the impact on the people living around it. Our neighbours are incredibly supportive of Summerfest and, while live bands generally travel reasonably well, a repetitive bass beat outdoors can be much more intrusive.
Similarly, a couple of people mentioned Friday’s line-up. Friday is deliberately our smaller opening party, primarily for campers and locals, with DJs rather than live bands. The main festival programme takes place on Saturday and Sunday. Again, limiting the amount of outdoor amplified music across the weekend helps us remain good neighbours.
THE LOOS! 🚽
We were slightly nervous about asking this one… 😂
Thankfully, the overwhelming feedback was that the loos were kept clean and in good condition.
We know loo roll ran low at one point, so next year we’ll have someone specifically responsible for checking and restocking them throughout the day.
Other than that, it sounds like the Summerfest loo experience was about as enjoyable as a festival loo experience can be!
PARKING 🚗
Most people seemed very happy with the parking arrangements.
The main improvement here is signage. This was mentioned in relation to both parking and finding things around the festival site, so better and more obvious signage is definitely going onto the 2027 list.
KIDS’ ENTERTAINMENT 🎨🎪
The children’s entertainment seemed to go down really well and people were happy with the variety of things available.
A few people suggested having a little more specifically aimed at teenagers, which is a really good point and something we’ll think about for next year.
A FEW OTHER GREAT SUGGESTIONS…
More shelter was mentioned by a few people which, given the weather this year, is entirely understandable! Space is always at a premium on our little site, but we’ll have a think about what might be possible.
One person suggested that our official photographers should wear visible ID so parents know they’re part of the festival team rather than simply someone taking photographs of children. That’s a brilliant suggestion and something we’ll absolutely address.
A couple of people also asked whether we could remove the barrier between the two stages. Unfortunately, that one isn’t really a choice – it’s there as part of the way we have to operate the site to comply with our licence. But it was still useful feedback.
AND FINALLY… ❤️
The biggest thing we’ve taken from the questionnaire is that people don’t want Summerfest to become something completely different.
You seem to love the fact that it’s small, friendly, slightly quirky, family-focused, good value and run by people from the community rather than a big commercial festival operator.
We want to improve it, but we don’t want to lose what makes it special in the process.
So we’ll keep the bits you love, work on the bits we can do better and keep listening.
If you haven’t filled in the questionnaire yet, we’ll keep the online form open for a little longer. Good feedback, bad feedback and everything in between is genuinely welcome.
Thank you again to everyone who took the time to help us.
Summerfest 2027 is already taking shape… and we’re rather excited about it. 👀❤️
The Preston Summerfest Team x
Music With A Mission
