Sandown gets the chance to help shape its bid to become UK Town of Culture 2028 with a day of family entertainment, discovery and community input on Wednesday 21st October 2026.
New venue after big top news
The event had been due to take place in The Arena big top at Sandham Gardens but, after recent news that the Island-based circus tent would no longer be coming to town, the Tide Turners team have wasted no time in finding a replacement venue.
The half-term Sandown Town of Culture Day will now take place in the ballroom at the Trouville Hotel on Sandown Esplanade from 10am to 3pm, in partnership with Creative Island’s Can You Hear Us?
‘Tell us what you want to see, hear and experience’
Tracy Mikich of the Sandown Tide Turners bid team says,
“This free event is your opportunity to tell us what you want to see, hear and experience across Sandown if our bid to be UK Town of Culture is successful.
“We’re really grateful to the Trouville for opening up their ground floor ballroom to the community.
“With the wonderful Shademakers UK, The Common Space and Graft Studios, we’ll be bringing together some of the Island’s most inspiring artists and performers to offer entertainment and hands-on activities for the whole family. And we want to know what you think about the ideas we have for 2028.
“Drop in, get inspired and help build our bid.”
The 2028 Tide Turner festival idea
One big idea for community input is the 2028 Tide Turner festival of arts and science, aiming to explore the story of Sandown across four themed areas of the town: Wonder, Curiosity, Origin and Adaptation.
The vision draws on everything from the footprints of dinosaurs, via Charles Darwin’s link to the town with his groundbreaking theory of evolution, through the writings of 1870s visitor Lewis Carroll and the development of Sandown’s long carnival and regatta heritage, to the present-day manufacture of vertipools, artificial marine life habitats created by the pioneering eco-business Artecology, guardians of the town’s designated Science Beach.
Entertainment for all the family
Joe Plumb of bid partners Shademakers UK, whose spectacular carnival costumes and kinetic figures are well known in Sandown, across the UK and internationally, describes the packed programme they’ve put together,
“From tiger stories to drumming workshops, dance performances to film screenings, this programme is a fantastic celebration of the incredible wealth of creativity in Sandown. It’s a brilliant chance to meet some of the artists and creatives involved in Sandown’s Town of Culture bid, discover their work and have your say about the town’s cultural future.
“Following the cancellation of The Arena big top, the Sandown community has rallied together, as it always does, to make sure the show goes on. The result is a wonderfully diverse and exciting programme at the Trouville Hotel that really showcases the creativity, passion and community spirit that makes Sandown so special.”
Hands-on science at Discovery Bay
There’ll be hands-on science too, as Ian Boyd of The Common Space, another Sandown bid partner, explains,
“Discovery Bay, Sandown’s very own pop-up natural history museum, will offer up an extraordinary array of fossils, bones, skulls, pickled specimens and curious creatures from 100 million years of amazing wildlife.
“Because the museum is all hands-on, you can pick up anything you want and take a closer look. But for that extra-super-close experience, why not try out the museums fabulous microscopes, including the giant micro-eye, and meet our mini-beasts face to face?”
More activities and performances
Also on the bill are creative activities with artists Laura Hathaway and Sue Paraskeva who’ll be bringing an origami dream-folding activity.
Creatives from Sandown-based Graft Studios will be taking part too.
And the Somewhen Survival Society will be giving a performance about foraging for wild food.
Final bid due by 30th November
One of 15 finalists from nearly 400 towns who entered the UK-wide competition, Sandown must submit its final bid to win the top award of £3 million by 30th November 2026.
News shared by Paul on behalf of Sandown Tide Turners bid team. Ed
