An inspiring Dutch sand artist has drawn the Walton Arts Festival logo for us on the beach by Walton Pier. Gert-Jan van der Kooij goes by the name of De Strandharker, which means ‘The Sand Raker’ in Dutch. This is his second trip to Walton on the Naze to create giant sand artworks. He has been drawing portraits and artworks on request by locals in the area. Gert-Jan likes the Walton beaches to draw on because of the flat sands and the raised promenade, which allows viewers to

We need your help to support this year's Walton Arts Festival. As our planning continues to deliver an exciting programme of events, you can show your support for the Walton Arts Festival by donating to, and sharing the festival's GoFund Me page. Link: https://www.gofundme.com/f/between-the-tides-family-friendly-arts-festival-in-walton Your money goes towards supporting our events programme, which means helping us pay the musicians and artists, hire equipment and venues, and

Between the Tides, Walton Arts Festival is back for its second year! Save the dates of Friday 18th, Saturday 19th and Sunday 20th September 2026 for a fun-packed festival and celebration of coastal community and creativity across Walton-on-the-Naze. Inspired by Walton’s heritage of September folk festivals, upholding its infamous reputation for being ‘Britain’s friendliest seaside resort’, the festival aims to showcase and offer a vibrant mix of opportunities and activities f

We’re delighted to team up with @LightSpeed Broadband as a sponsor for the Walton Arts Festival. Catch the LightSpeed team at the Festival Market on Saturday from 10 AM to 4 PM. From the market, you'll be well-positioned to experience a whole host of musical and artistic events taking place in the centre of town! On Sunday, the Lightspeed team will be up at the Naze for all the exciting events happening. It’s going to be a fantastic weekend, and we can’t wait to see you the

It’s finally arrived…the Festival is next weekend, the 20-22nd September! And before it happens, we’d like to extend a big thank you to our many supporters in and around the town. Our small but effective team of volunteers has worked tirelessly, and for free, to create what is shaping up to be a fabulous weekend of music, art, crafts and family fun. None of this would have been possible without the support of the many shops, Emmanuel and All Saints churches, pubs, café’s,

We’re getting close to the Festival weekend (20-22nd September) and we’ve got some important updates to share with you. We’re in the process of doing another print run of the Programme and will incorporate the changes there. Meanwhile, the latest updated version of the programme is downloadable at www.waltonartsfestival.com. Due to an administrative error, we had listed Kopy Katz as playing at Revved up on Saturday. They are not! Our bad, and apologies to the band. If you r

Some music you listen to and some you just have to make the moves. If you’re a mover then the Festival has plenty for you. Walton Pier is the place to hang out on this Saturday 21st September with Light and Lyrics Disco DJ Pat Feasey out the front of the new pier from 5pm. Warmed up and ready to go, Dogshow begin their set at 7.30pm. Would you believe it, FREE electronic music and dancing on Walton Pier with a band said to traverse the genre-fluid astral planes creating mus

We’re delighted to announce that British Jazz Award-winning Derek Nash – one of the best known jazz musicians in the UK - will be opening the Festival at East Coast 5 at 7pm on Friday the 20th. Derek, who lives locally, is a saxophonist, bandleader, composer, arranger, record producer and engineer. He is leader of six bands, each with its own unique sound and featuring some of the top jazz musicians in the UK today. Derek will be “sitting in” with J2Z, the jazz band already

The Bruff Bar has been supporting the arts for a while so it’s hardly surprising that there’s barely a moment that’s it’s not going to be busy on the Festival weekend 20th-22nd September.. On Friday night it hosts She Brings the Rain (8.30-10pm) before launching into Saturday with Shed doing a lunchtime session (1-2.30pm). At 3pm the poets take over with Gordon and Blossom conducting the Bruff Experiment. And then there’s more live music from 4pm with Rhianna and Colour & S

Well, the planes might be going a bit far and are not particularly ‘green’, but just think of all the ways you can be at Walton Arts Festival September 20-22nd. If you’re really local, walking is the obvious choice, but then climbing aboard the push bike is a great option if you’re a little bit further away. There are buses, of course, which are handy if you’re coming from the Clacton, Thorpe and Colchester directions. There’s a bus every 20 minutes from Clacton and every

The Between the Tides Walton Arts Festival kicks off on Sunday the 22nd September with a resounding GONG WITH THE WIND under Walton Pier 7.00 am. Performed by the irrepressible and extraordinarily talented her&her, Cydnei B and Catherine Shrubshall. Start your day with some good vibrations.

Celebrating the days of vinyl, Format Records are digging out their favourite album sleeves and the albums and the stories behind them as part of the Walton Arts Festival 20th-22nd September. They may not necessarily be classic or iconic designs, just the sleeves that Format love, so be prepared to be surprised. Remember when… It seems unbelievable, but those of us old enough to recall some of our favourite albums (yes, album or "LP") sleeves are now witnessing new generation

Reflections of the Sea by Sarah Stratford Wright Impressionist, realist, surrealist, modernist…? Whatever your choice in art, it will be here somewhere at Between the Tides, the Walton Arts Festival 20-22nd September, With some 40 events, workshops, demos and installations, an Arts Trail created by the Walton Art Network will be a feast for any art lover with a few hours to spare for wandering around the town and taking everything in. Mermaid by Simply Twisted By artists with

What a choice! No time to sit around and get bored. On September 21st you can start your Saturday with a quick visit to a special Walton Market where there are games for the young ones and even a tea cup ride for the tinies. Then, pop into the Library at 11.15am for some story telling – Sand Between My Toes and The Naughty Seagull – with authors Caroline Cross and Lucy Mitchell. Of course, that’s only possible if you can avoid the Sandcastle Competition on The Leas Beach.

The Between the Tides Wallton Arts Festival is fast approaching and a beautifully designed and printed Programme (with map) is with the printers as I write. We'll be distributing the printed and folded A5 Programmes around the town as soon as they're available but meanwhile, as a subscriber to the Festival mailing list, we thought you might like a sneak preview! So here's an A4 version for you to use now if you wish. You can print it out and hopefully it let you plan your