Sea Ilfracombe defies Neptune’s deluge with a rousing good time

Some Neptune-inspired downpours did not douse the spirits of the thousands of hardy nautical souls who turned out in their droves to enjoy the 16th annual Sea Ilfracombe Maritime Festival.

This year’s festival featured 17 bands and entertainers across three venues, offering everything from sea shanty singers to ska, rock, rhythm and blues and pop. 

The stage at the Ropery Road car park was especially busy with crowds jamming into the space to enjoy live music.

Above: There were plenty of pirates and swashes buckled at Sea Ilfracombe. Credit: Tim Lamerton Photography

There were also plenty of street food offerings plus organisers teamed up with the Ship & Pilot and Hele Bay pub teams who, along with 11 The Quay, and will be serving lagers, ales, ciders, rums, cocktails, wines and much, much more at the Pirates Arm and The Makai Bar.

Both Saturday and Sunday saw some sunny spells but also some real deluges as this proved to be the weekend when summer began to give way to autumn.

Nonetheless the festival was still extremely busy and tired organisers briefly took to Facebook to say it had been a ‘fantastic’ event and they would add more once they had recovered a little.

Chairman John Irwin and treasurer Julie Irwin have been involved for the past four years, and explained the festival was originally conceived as a way of marking the end of the tourist season.

Above: Sea Ilfracombe organisers John and Julie Irwin with Kim Leatherbarrow, who helped out as a medic. Credit: Kim Leatherbarrow

Speaking to the Gazette before the event, Julie said: “It's a way of Ilfracombe celebrating all that's good about Ilfracombe in the maritime history, although it's moved on a bit from maritime history.

“So the initial reason was to say ‘thank you’ to the people of Ilfracombe. It's now changed completely. We have holidaymakers now who change their holiday dates to make sure they're down here for the festival, which is absolutely awesome, absolutely lovely.”

Above: Credit: Tim Lamerton Photography

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