At the UK Festival Awards in a Bristol warehouse on a chill December night, Green Gathering’s Em Weirdigan was eating curry and chatting with other festival organisers when the announcement came…
Compere Emmanuel Sonubi ran through the shortlist for the Greener Festival Award – the highest accolade for an eco-conscious event in the UK:
Bristol Harbour Festival, BST Hyde Park, Cambridge Folk Festival, The Green Gathering, Green Man, and All Points East were in the running.
Then Charlie, event sustainability expert and award judge from A Greener Future, opened a giant envelope and shouted out:
“The winning event is…. The Green Gathering!”
WOW.
We really didn’t expect to win this time.
Green Gathering has been repeatedly recognised as the most sustainable event in the UK. This year though, we were convinced another festival with a newfound passion for sustainable operations would leapfrog us to take the Green crown.
But, we scooped this super coveted award again!
“Because we weren't expecting it, I was as excited and overwhelmed as when Green Gathering won for the first time, back in 2017. So many people really do pour heart and soul into making our festival sustainable and inclusive - a version of the world we'd like to live in. To be recognised and appreciated for that is such a rewarding, joyous feeling. Huge thanks to everyone who made it happen!"
- Em Weirdigan, Green Gathering festival director
To remain at the absolute top of our game, 42 years after the first Green Gathering took place on Worthy Farm, is testament to the dedication, passion, and ethos of our community. Sustainability is our foundation, embedded in our roots and everything we do – and that shines through, at the festival itself and in the data AGF uses to assess how Green we really are.
And we really are!
Awarded Outstanding certification year after year, Green Gathering is the original off grid festival, powered by sun, wind, people and passion, the Greenest in the land, the only UK event to have won the International Greener Festival award, with an impact that lasts far longer than a weekend.
We’d love you to join us, experience it for yourself, and give us YOUR verdict!
The Green Gathering has been based in Chepstow, South Wales, since 2011.
More info and tickets: www.greengathering.org.uk/tickets
That mention of eating curry in a Bristol warehouse? Caterers for the UKFA event were Beyond Ceylon, who also have their Sri Lankan food stall at The Green Gathering festival, near our Soundscape Solar Stage. Yum.
