Nine day festival of fun promised for ‘Ramsgreat Week’

Ramsgreat Week Photo Kinetic Circus

This October half-term, Ramsgate Town Council and Ramsgate Arts present ‘Ramsgreat Week’ – a nine-day festival taking place from Saturday, October 24- Sunday, November 1.

The week will feature live and online events, art trails and gallery exhibitions  at multiple locations across the town.

The mostly free programme includes several Looping the Loop productions: ’Introduction to Circus Skills’ for families and support bubbles at Archive Cafe, and a quirky and hilarious puppet show, ‘The Sea Show’ at Royal Harbour Brasserie, which combines natural history with comedy cabaret.

Other events include an artisan and vintage pop-up show ‘Makers of Ramsgate’ organised by Molly Pickle Designs, and Thanet’s first ever pumpkin trail (a Covid-safe way for kids to enjoy the spirit of trick of treat) organised by Ramsgate mum Ange Martin. There’s also a spooky Screaming Alley Halloween online event and Ramsgate Arts Barge are presenting live music event “Busk on the Barge”.

Screaming Alley: Isabelle Adjani, Klaus Kinski

There are nine public exhibitions, including three artist homes as part of East Kent Artists’ Open Houses https://ekoh.org.uk.

In collaboration with The Earth Museum https://theearthmuseum.co.uk, “Ramsgreat Week” is also compiling 30 curious and compelling sites around the town to be pinned onto a national digital map. This will mean people from across the world can discover the hidden treasures which make Ramsgate special.

Photo Gemma Dempsey

The name of the event is inspired by the word used to form the hugely successful public art piece “Where I live” at Ramsgate Royal Harbour Car Park – installed overnight in September by mysterious local artist, known only as Mr Tear Gas. Of his piece, Mr Tear Gas said “The RAMSGREAT piece was created to (quite literally) open doors to conversations about the greatness of this town, wherever and however you might choose to know that. This is art for everyone who sees it. It’s out on our streets, within our everyday, easily accessible and without financial inclination.”

Photo Christopher Tipping Studio.

Ramsgreat Week is one of 12 coastal town festivals happening during October half-term as part of ‘Back & Fill’ – a national effort, organised by Margate’s Marine Studios, to encourage people to visit coastal towns during the October half-term – supporting small seaside economies affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. https://backandfill.uk

The festival is being produced by Ramsgate Arts and Ramsgate Town Promoter, Rebekah Smith with funding from Ramsgate Town Council.

New events are still being added. To find out more about thee programme, go to http://www.visitramsgate.co.uk/ramsgreatweek/ or check @visitramsgate on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.