Thousands attend Parklife Weekend in Aylesbury

Aylesbury Town Council's acclaimed Parklife Weekend drew thousands of attendees to its free events over the August Bank Holiday weekend.

Now in its 9^th year, Aylesbury Town Council’s community-led event saw new events to the Parklife Weekend line up in Aylesbury’s Vale Park. 103 local businesses, groups, and organisations, as well as 25 bands were part of this year’s event.

Pride in the Park, sponsored by Aylesbury Waterside Theatre and organised by Aylesbury Community Pride in collaboration with the Town Council, was the town's first-ever Pride event of its kind. Attendees celebrated diversity and inclusion with a variety of engaging entertainers, insightful talks, and participation from numerous local community groups.

On Saturday 24 August, despite a rainy start to the day, nothing could dampen the spirits of residents in Vale Park at Live in the Park. The event featured fifteen local bands and artists across two stages, an entertainment tent and Community Involvement Area. A new addition to the programme was Bandeoke, giving attendees the chance to take to the mic in the Radley Big Tent alongside a live band thanks to XYZ Music’s house band.

Performing on the Main Stage and Bucks Radio Second Stage were Liam King, Pamela June, Nicola Gray, Memphis Rattlesnakes, Mike Carroll, Into the South, Abbie Gathard, 91NIGHTS, Jazz Dylan, Chiltern Groove, Hayley Chart, The Eclectix, Abdiouene Brown and concluding the event was a fantastic headline performance from Aylesbury’s own - The Dung Beatles. Live in the Park was compered by Dez Kay.

Aylesbury Church Network kicked off Sunday’s schedule of events with Church in the Park and Banquet in the Park which saw hundreds enjoying an open-air service and foods from all over the world. In the afternoon, the Battle of the Bands competition filled the Radley Big Tent where ten bands battled it out for the chance to be on the Live in the Park line up for 2025.

The judging panel, consisting of representatives from Aylesbury Town Council, Aylesbury Alternative Music Society, the People’s Voice judge Keith Pottinger and XYZ Music picked Soulust and Screamin’ Irene as the winners. 

Both bands will also receive a recording session courtesy of XYZ Music Academy.

The Rock Project, PARABØLA, Horrorskope, Ember, Pete Kosanovich, Thrown Like Owls, Cherry Scream and The Mighty Stampede also performed.

The weekend concluded on Sunday evening with Proms in the Park, featuring impressive musical performances by the Aylesbury Concert Band accompanied by the Next Stage Choir, and soloists Alison Langer and Lawrence Thackery. Hosted by Erika Sanderson, the audience enjoyed a variety of songs from West End shows, including selections from Les Misérables, Hairspray and The Phantom of the Opera.

In an effort to make Parklife Weekend 2024 the greenest Town Council event yet, Aylesbury Wombles pledged to pick litter across the whole weekend to help recycle all waste. The national average for recycling at a festival stands at 32% of waste being recycled. Final figures are still to be received however, event organisers are confident they are on track to surpass the national average.