A spectacular combination of Swanage Carnival entertainment and great weather, attracted large crowds to the seaside town in Dorset, providing a welcome boost to the local economy.
With more than a hundred events from Saturday 25th July to Saturday 1st August 2026, there was plenty for everyone including an airshow, the traditional carnival procession, fireworks, bingo, live music, food stalls, fun fair, the photo marathon, and a 4 mile fun run.
The fancy dress wheelbarrow race attracted record numbers
Colourfully clad couples
Many may have assumed that by midweek most of the big events had happened but arguably the best was yet to come with one of the largest line ups of contestants for the fancy dress wheelbarrow race.
On Friday, as the evening sun started to set, there was the craziest of colourfully clad couples racing around the streets of Swanage with wheelbarrows.
Disco dancing on Swanage seafront
Artistic director and producer Claire Hodgson, who runs Dance Yourself Dizzy sessions at The Mowlem, led the flash mob disco dancers
Sequined disco dancers
By Saturday morning lots of people were all out on the seafront again, but this time it was a flash mob of sequined disco dancers strutting their stuff.
There were a number of new events including daily beach yoga which started with 42 people but by the end of the week had an impressive 116 people taking part, raising more than £2,000 for carnival funds.
And for the first time, The Mowlem Unboxed family show by the Bournemouth-based theatre company Dot Collective, entertained the crowds on Sandpit Field with an amusing performance of its show Catch of the Day.
Winners of the wheelbarrow race: Sparrow and Bestie the Barrow Babes
Best fancy dress winners: Show Us Your Grapes
Best fancy dress runners up: Only Fools and Horses
“A great week of entertainment”
Secretary of Swanage Carnival Kevin Langdon said:
“The weather has been truly amazing and it really brought the crowds out. The number of people attending the events has been totally unbelievable.
“Last year lots came for the Red Arrows on the first Saturday, but this year it seems people have made more of a week of it. I think the word is spreading about Swanage Carnival and we are getting a really good reputation much further afield for providing a great week of entertainment.
“The only thing that got cancelled this year was the dog show because it was too hot. Other than that pretty much everything else went to plan with more than 100 events.
“The highlights were the procession with 26 floats and the air displays, which were really brilliant. The fancy dress wheelbarrow race also had a record number of teams taking part and some of the outfits were fantastic.
“Of course we couldn’t have done it without our amazing team of volunteers and the local businesses which advertise in the programme and sponsor the events.
“Plus a big thank you too to the local community with so many getting involved, including the shops with the ‘What’s not my line’ competition – that’s so brilliant.”
Timothy Crabb
Team Raven air display on the opening Saturday
The vintage car show on Sandpit Field on Friday
The four mile fun run on Tuesday
Live music throughout the week with the Ballard Stage having the best backdrop ever
More than £41,000 given to good causes in 2025
It costs £250,000 every year to stage the Swanage Carnival, so the organisers work hard to cover as much of the costs as possible with sponsorship and advertising in the carnival programme.
The rest of the income comes from the sale of drinks in the marquee, the modest entrance fees to take part in events, and of course donations.
But there’s no high ticket costs like the Bestival festival at nearby Lulworth, which makes it much more accessible for everyone.
Amazingly, the carnival even manages to make more than it needs to cover the costs, so is able to give away thousands of pounds every year to local charities.
In 2025, more than £41,000 was handed out to good causes like sports clubs, playgroups, and care charities.
Three amazing firework displays delighted the crowds
The Sandpit Field event space will be stabilised from slippage and redeveloped over winter 2027/8, so everything will be new for summer 2028
Secretary of Swanage Carnival Kevin Langdon (left) with committee member and former carnival chair Darren Strong (right)
“See what we can come up with for 2027!”
But as soon as one carnival week ends, the whole process starts to gear up again for the following year.
Kevin added:
“Now it’s on to planning for next year – there’s lots of hard work behind the scenes that we have to do like the risk assessments, the management plans, and the road closure applications.
“There’s also the fun part of coming up with a theme – we’ll have to put our thinking caps on and see what we can come up with for 2027!
“Next year’s carnival will be the last year as we know it on Sandpit Field. With plans to stabilise the ground and expand the site across Walrond Road, it looks as if we will have a much bigger area to run events. So we’ll have to sit down and see how we can make the most of that opportunity in the future.
“But before next year, we have our presentation night on Friday 25th September 2026. That’s the bit I really look forward to, when we can give away all the money raised by Swanage Carnival to local charities.
“It’s good to see the look on people’s faces – that’s what makes all the hard work worthwhile and why we do it!”
A quality family performance with aerial acrobatics from the Dot Collective
Yoga on the beach proved very popular
Some went to long lengths to fit in with A Wacky Western in Carnival Canyon theme!
Our grateful thanks to Helen ffitch for all her support and help with this years event.
