Come rain or shine, the annual Swanage Regatta and Carnival Week is a highlight of the summer holidays. The event is a real spectacle, with people from the seaside town and for miles around descending on this beautiful corner of Dorset’s Jurassic Coast to celebrate community, local life, music, sports and the arts while raising an average £10-20,000 for local and national causes.
Swanage Regatta and Carnival week brings together people of all ages, interests and backgrounds, with daily live music and entertainment, a half marathon, sandcastle competitions, a sailing regatta, treasure hunts, firework displays and, of course, the grand finale a record-breaking procession through and around the town.
This year’s carnival procession theme is ‘Safari’, so make sure you don your best camouflage or animal costumes and join the parade! The Regatta and Carnival Week also attracts a fly-past from popular aerobatics display teams in an annual air display and you’ll find many spin-off activities and events in the grip of carnival fever, with musicians, sports challenges (Swanage Bay Swim anyone?!), cooking demos to dog shows.