MONMOUTH MISCHIEF
MONMOUTH – SATURDAY 2ND MAY 2026
The Wye Valley River Festival is back! Along with the spring, to bring Magic, Merriment and a little Mayhem to Monmouth, May weekend 2026.
Join us on Saturday 2nd of May for our vibrant much-loved procession, winding down Monmouth High Street, bringing colour, imagination and Spring spirit through the town. Expect spectacle, sound and surprises as artists, locals and community groups come together.
The parade ends at Drybridge Park (opposite Bridges Community Centre) for a full day of entertainment; shows, workshops, song, music, exhibitions, delicious food and hopefully some sunshine too.
We want to lift the spirits and bring energy and visitors back to town after the dreadful floods of the winter, and to thank Monmouth for all the support it’s given the festival since 2014.
Everyone is welcome – and we’ve managed to keep it FREE.
It’s a family-friendly, inspiring, celebratory day and the site is accessible to all.
Come along, play and be part of a Wye Valley River Festival weekend 2026.
‘‘We aim to bring local people, community environmentalists and exceptional artists together for a creative exploration and celebration of this internationally important landscape and place’’
Mynwy Direidi
Trefynwy – Dydd Sadwrn, 2 Mai 2026
Mae Gŵyl Dyffryn Afon Gwy yn ei hôl! Ynghyd â’r gwanwyn, mae’r ŵyl yn ei hôl i ddod â hud, llawenydd ac ychydig o anhrefn i Drefynwy, a hynny dros benwythnos Calan Mai 2026.
Ymunwch â ni ddydd Sadwrn, 2 Mai ar gyfer ein gorymdaith fywiog, hynod boblogaidd, a fydd yn gorymdeithio ar hyd Stryd Fawr Trefynwy, gan ddod â lliw, dychymyg ac ysbryd y gwanwyn i’r holl dref. Byddwch yn barod am wledd i’r llygad a’r glust a syrpreisys di-ri wrth i artistiaid, trigolion a grwpiau cymunedol lleol ddod at ei gilydd.
Daw’r orymdaith i ben ym Mharc Drybridge (gyferbyn â Chanolfan Gymunedol Bridges) am ddiwrnod llawn o adloniant – sioeau, gweithdai, canu, cerddoriaeth, arddangosfeydd, bwyd blasus a rhywfaint o heulwen hefyd, gobeithio.
Rydyn ni am godi’r galon a dod ag egni ac ymwelwyr yn ôl i’r dref ar ôl llifogydd ofnadwy’r gaeaf, ac i ddiolch i Drefynwy am yr holl gefnogaeth a roddwyd i’r ŵyl ers 2014.
Mae croeso i bawb – ac rydyn ni wedi llwyddo i gadw’r ŵyl yn un RAD AC AM DDIM.
Mae’n ddathliad ysbrydoledig a chyfeillgar i deuluoedd ac mae’r safle yn hygyrch i bawb. Dewch draw, byddwch lawen, a byddwch yn rhan o benwythnos Gŵyl Dyffryn Afon Gwy 2026.
“Ein nod yw dod â thrigolion, amgylcheddwyr cymunedol ac artistiaid lleol at ei gilydd am archwiliad a dathliad creadigol o’r ardal a’r dirwedd yma sydd o bwysigrwydd rhyngwladol.”
PARADE / Parêd – GATHER 11am at the top of town
We will gather at 11am at the top of town, near Shire Hall, for the parade which will leave at 11.30.
Everyone is welcome to join this year’s procession of extraordinary creatures or just come to watch and support.
Joining our schools, alongside the festival’s favourite band The Wodwose, the parade will include the magnificent Sea Horse Dragon, a large puppet commissioned from artist Araceli Puppet Theatre.
She will be joined by the incredible Daniel, local Mari Lwyd plus the extraordinary mini mythical characters the children have made during our Outreach Project led by the wonderful Think Creatively.
GET INVOLVED
Would you like to help make a large scale puppet?
Or other parade items to carry with you when you join in the parade with us?
Come along to these open workshops (free) in the OLD MARKET HALL, Monmouth
Saturday 25th April – 10am-4.30pm
Thursday 30th April – 3-8pm
No need to book – just turn up – but be warned – you might get a bit messy!
On the parade you will also see some of our performers and the magnificent Wodwose once again providing the parade music.
WOULD YOU LIKE TO HELP MAKE FLOCK?
FLOCK is a stunning screen and hand printed 24m long silk banner made by Nichola Goff with communities in the Lower Wye. It will be carried in the parade.
Workshops are Sat 11 Apr & Sun 12 Apr 2026, 10:00AM – 4:00PM
There are still places on the workshops – book here
And if you are joining the Parade this year – please wear GREEN!
DRYBRIDGE PARK 12-5pm
The parade will arrive down at Drybridge Park around 12pm when a full day of shows and activities will commence with the usual WVRF mix of creative workshops, interesting talks, lively shows set in a glorious location.
SHOWS / Sioeau
Walk of the Dandelion
We are very excited to welcome Luke Brown Company with Daniel – a larger-than-life Puppet, who holds a dandelion; a symbol of resilience and hope.
Beautifully crafted 8-foot puppet Daniel, an ethereal, ancient man of the earth, walks with audiences, sharing moments of delight, contemplation, and fun. Daniel gifts dandelions, each with a positive message, and invites audiences to join him in gentle interactions as he walks. The kind, heartwarming and subtle interactions offer encouragement and delight, spreading positivity and hope.
See him on the parade and in Drybridge Park and make a dandelion at Daniel’s workshop, also in the Park.
Community Service
Geoff is doing Community Service and he needs your help.
He’s been sent by The Council to implement five easy-to-follow steps for building an instant, flat-pack community. Geoff’s job is to ensure social cohesion, harmony and collective joy.
The only problem is – Geoff hates people …
So, will he succeed in forming a new community with a bunch of random strangers? Can you help Geoff see the good in people again?
Deftly deploying his trademark blend of sincerity and mischief, Community Service is internationally award-winning Cornish artist Seamas Carey at his best; anarchic, joyful and accessible.
Last Chance Romance
Bing, Bong, Bing…welcome to Kitsch & Sync Collective’s Dating Agency. Are you looking for love?… Left on the shelf?… Feeling like ‘Billy No Dates’?.
Well, this is your chance to find romance, your last chance…romance!”
This interactive and comedic dance theatre performance fuses swing dance, toe-tapping tunes, dating booths and of course…love, love, LOVE!
Kitsch n Sync Collective, founded by Cardiff based Kylie Ann Smith and Kim Noble, is renowned for their unique blend of comedy and thought-provoking performances. Their shows captivate audiences of all ages and backgrounds, and in English and Welsh.
Cân y Dŵr – Song of Water
We are very pleased to present this brand-new show from The Ragged Storytelling Collective .
A folk ritual performance, it is a 450 million year saga taking you through mountain time, river time and into human time. With beautiful puppets and Welsh songs of lament and love, with live music including cello and harmonium, all woven together with poetic, dreamlike storytelling. A real treat!
Telling the Bees
An art installation and performance by Artist and Storyteller, Holly Foskett-Barnes. It revives the ancient Celtic tradition of ‘telling the bees’, where beekeepers would inform their colony of births, deaths and marriages to stop them from swarming, dying or ceasing honey production.
(NB. performance includes some themes around death, dying and funeral).
After The Merry Monmouth May Day , |Telling the Bees will be installed at Tintern Abbey 3rd and 4th May, an added bonus for your Tintern entry ticket.
The Wodwose – led by Tim Hill
The WVRF’s amazing , energetic Street band will be joining us again this year for the day, joining the parade and performing in Drybridge park throughout the day. A line up of three amazing street musicians led by Tim Hill.
Doreen’s Big Catch
A play using puppetry with a mighty story of an exceptional woman – Doreen Davey, and her record breaking salmon catch on the River Wye near Hereford.
Wolves Always Howl More Than Once
Tucked in the woods you will find a new installation by Artist Jenny Cashmore. What can we learn from wild wolves and the act of howling as a tool for communication and finding others. When will only a howl do?
THE SOAPBOX SESSIONS
Have you got a passion in you? Want to get on a soapbox and tell us all about it? We have gathered a plethora of interesting folk, all with a story, an issue or a plain and simple passion. They will have 10 minutes only to make their point and the audience can ask questions at the end, then it’s off – and onto the next one on.
Hosted by the inimitable Annabelle Holland (compere extraordinaire) we have some of our artists, an ecologist, a Mari Lwyd practitioner, LGBTQI+ reps, a musician, some school children and…. maybe YOU?
Also talking here, in their own special slot, will be Leigh Day (Lawyers Against Injustice) about their action against polluters of rivers – including The Wye. Hear the details and how you might join.
Come to the Soapbox on the day and sign up for a slot!
workshops / Gweithdai
WYLDWOOD ARTS – IMAGINATION STATION
From it’s horsebox home, The Imagination Station is a play space for all ages to make, create and build the spaces they want! Exploring and facilitating collaborative play as a way to explore new imagined futures – what will l you make? Will it be a cardboard placard for the Soapbox Sessions stage backdrop? Or build the new town of your dreams .
Make a dandelion
Walk of the Dandelion has an accompanying craft workshop, where participants make woollen dandelions and share their own positive messages. The dandelion symbol promotes creativity and discussions about resilience, well-being, nature, ecology, and sustainability. Daniel is a survivor who has found resilience and strength through the symbolism of the dandelion, which will grow despite neglect and harsh treatment. Participants become part of the project by making and sharing their dandelions and positive messages with others, reminding them of their resilience, and giving them to Daniel to gift on to others.
FLOCK
On the day in the Park – Come and see FLOCK in all it’s glory and join Nichola Goff and try your hand at the processes used to create this. Watch out for the Singing workshop led by Jenn Singleton taking place amongst the silk panels.
THINK CREATIVELY – MAKE YOUR OWN ‘MOZZ’
Join Angharad and “Mozz of Earth and Stone.” Make your own mini Mozz and here some stories of him and other local folklore.
FOREST COMMUNITY SHED
Back by popular demand these fantastic local bodgers, woodworkers and turners will be on site. Come get involved with this band of creative, skilled and generous humans.
HABITATS
This project brings communities together to collaboratively create a large-scale piece of temporary architecture, shaped by their own needs and ideas. From social meeting spaces to areas for quiet contemplation, as well as settings for music and gatherings, each structure will reflect how participants choose to design and use it, based on a kit developed through research in the Wye Valley.
The woven pieces created during our workshop will form part of an evolving “woven skin” that travels with the architectural framework. As the structure moves from place to place, new sections will be added by each community, allowing the project to grow and transform over time.
Can you help us start the journey of the project?
Queering the Wye – Borderlands Project
Come find out about this amazing project. Led by our outstanding photographer Emma Drabble and Wye Valley River Festival’s ‘Queering The Wye’ project lead Amiee Bleasbourne, who have worked with different community groups members, exploring identity, belonging and diversity in a town and area shaped by its position on the Welsh and English borders. What does ‘Borderland’ mean to you?
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