The Mayor’s Thames Festival

The biggest event in London this weekend 15-16 September (apart from Tottenham v Arsenal) is The Mayor’s Thames Festival, two days of music, street theatre, open air art, pyrotechnics, special food and craft markets and river events all taking place along a three mile stretch of the Thames from Westminster to Tower Bridges with some bridges in between closed to traffic for the festival.

The Thames Festival has happened annually for the last ten years and has been growing in size year on year. Among the highlights for 2007 are Feast on the Bridge taking place on Saturday between 12 noon-9.30pm on Southwark Bridge. It’ll be closed to cars and transformed into various eating areas such as a traditional British seaside, a formal banquet, a lounge bar, exotic tents and a village fête. You’ll be able to try everything from hog roasts to curry and oysters while from 1.30pm-10pm different bands will play music including Bollywood brass and surf rock.

Also on Saturday at 8pm is the French trapeze group Transe Express performing 100ft in the air close to the London Eye. Earlier in the day from 1pm-3pm Stirring the Waters will see a flotilla of over 50 boats make their way from Greenwich to Westminster and back again.

On both days is the Riverside Market where 250 specially selected stalls will be set up on the Riverside Walkway between Westminster and Tower Bridges including international food stalls, crafts and souvenirs, which at night it will be transformed into a brightly lit bazaar. The Hubble Bubble Stage in Jubilee Gardens near the London Eye will have groups and bands playing North African, Arabic and Turkish music from 12pm–7.30pm on Saturday and 12pm–9pm on Sunday.

Again on both days of the festival are River Tango taking place outside Tate Modern, the biggest open-air tango event in the UK on from 12pm-9.30pm, the Silk Road Stage featuring Gypsy music from Eastern Europe and Turkey playing from 12pm-6pm, and Jive at Oxo, 12pm-9.30pm Saturday, 12pm-7pm Sunday where you can listen, watch and dance to the jive music of the 40s and 50s in the Bernie Spain Gardens next to the Oxo Tower.

These are only some of the many events taking place during the Thames Festival weekend, check their website for the full listing. One of the climaxes is the Illuminated Night Carnival on Sunday night between 7pm–9.45pm along the Victoria Embankment at Blackfriars Bridge where 2,000 musicians, dancers, amazing lanterns and illuminated costumes will perform. The centre piece of this year’s Night Carnival is the giant articulated Australian Snuff Puppets.

The Thames Festival is sure to draw thousands of people, the weather should be good, so get along and enjoy central London at its autumnal best.