Durham Celebration Weekend

Following the hard work that went in to submitting Durham’s bid for British City of Culture a Durham Celebration Weekend is being planned to say ‘thank you’ to County Durham residents for their support and to encourage as many as possible to celebrate all that is the County by visiting the attractions and venues that are on their doorstep.

The weekend offers FREE admission (or some element of a FREE offer) to events, attractions and experiences across the county on Saturday 20 and Sunday 21 March. Those already expressing interest are The Bowes Museum, Beamish Open Air Museum, Crook Hall Gardens, The Botanic Gardens and The Oriental Museum, all of whom are considering offering free entry (in some cases with a limit in numbers) during the weekend. Locomotion and Durham Cathedral will also be taking part by waiving the fee to some part of their attraction.

We anticipate that the Northern Echo will promote the weekend to the county’s residents as well as publishing entry vouchers in the week leading up to the Durham Celebration Weekend. Residents will also be able to collect entry vouchers from Tourist Information Centres and libraries across the county.

Schemes like this are quite common across the country and take place in Norfolk, York and Sussex, to name a few. They are successful at generating first time visits and delivering additional visits from visiting friends and relatives in the six months after the event. York’s Residents First weekend has been running successfully for 15 year and the last Sussex event has generated 900 first time visits from local people.

If you are interested in taking part, please download the agreement form and email back to the coordinator. Alternatively you can call Jill Cole on 07802 603008 or email jill.cole@durham.gov.uk