Mill Meadows is a hub of activity during the River Festival, with trade stalls galore and the ever-popular Community Stages showcasing fantastic performances from the community of Bedfordshire. The Community Stage is kindly sponsored by the Harpur Trust.

It will be a creative haven for you to enjoy and participate in a range of activities delivered by local cultural organisations and practitioners. Across both days there will be a range of activities across a variety of art forms including music, dance, storytelling, poetry, visual art, and crafts. Delivered collaboratively by the Bedford Cultural Partnership.

Try out the Philharmonia’s virtual orchestra in their VR headset experience; be inspired by poetry and visual art from The River Project; sit and be entertained in artist-designed seating structures with Bedford Creative Arts; watch storytelling and dance by Ananda Arts or theatre by Full House and The Place. Find out about what’s on at BedFringe and The Quarry, and meet the University’s Heritage Horizons practitioners sharing information about new heritage projects. Sketch riverside scenes with the Bedford Urban Sketchers and experience games, crafts and family activities with medieval themes with Bedford Libraries, Archives service and The Higgins with Heritage Bedford. Maybe you can profess the positive things about yourself in a humorous interaction with Permission2 or listen to musicians and DJs programmed by Bedford Music Hub.