'Third time lucky': Northampton festival celebrating community and diversity back bigger than ever for 2021

A Northampton festival celebrating community and diversity is back bigger and better than ever after being cancelled twice last year because of coronavirus.

Kaya Festival was supposed to take over Overstone Park for three days in July before being put back to September and then cancelled.

The festival, which will also be celebrating its 10th birthday having started in Wales in 2011, will now be four days long over the August bank holiday.

Headliners Terry Hall from The Specials and Lee Scratch Perry also return for DJ sets on the Friday and Saturday while the Sunday and Monday will be dedicated to world music and community.

Organiser Thabani Nyoni said: "We're cautiously optimistic with what's happening with the rates going down but we've just got to see what happens at every stage of the lockdown easing that will be key for all festival organisers and businesses.

"There's an air of trepidation but excitement too as hopefully we'll be starting to turn a corner by then.

"We tried to put it on twice last year so we're hoping this year will be third time lucky.

"All we're asking is for the community to get behind it and for this event to become key going forward for Northampton and the wider region."

As well as the music, there will be another stage called Kaya Speaks showcasing comedians, poets, spoken word artists and acoustic music.

There will also be arts and craft, food and drink stalls and activities for families to be a part of, plus camping.

Plus strict Covid restrictions will be in place such as plenty of hand santisers, temperature checks, social distancing measures and stewards to ensure they are being adhered to.

Community is at the heart of the festival so 1,000 day tickets are being given to organisations and schools to give them a taste of the Kaya vibe, according to Thabani.

"We want to give people a lift as it's been such a tough time and we've lost so many to this awful disease so this will be a chance to celebrate them and have some fun too," he added.

For more information, visit kaya-festival.com.