Whitby Fish & Ships Festival

The Whitby Fish and Ships Festival is back for 2025 promising a lively celebration of Whitby’s rich fishing heritage with cookery demonstrations and fish craft tips from top local chefs, incredible live music from local bands and sea balladeers, family activities and entertainment, free craft sessions, local exhibitors and so much more!

Head down to Whitby Marina Front Car Park on Saturday 17 May and Sunday 18 May. 10am to 4pm, bar/music marquee open till 11pm on Saturday.

Fish Craft Marquee

Sponsored by the Magpie Café, enjoy filleting and cooking demos from local chefs. Chef appearances will be announced nearer the time.

 Craft marquee

Whitby Museum, Pannett Art Gallery, Captain Cook Museum and Whitby Library will join forces for a variety of crafty workshops for kids.

 Music Marquee

Made in Whitby and Whitby Brewery will be bringing toe-tapping music from local bands. The lineup and timings will be announced shortly.

Local exhibitors and stalls

Browse the stalls along Dock End and pick up some artisan goods and local produce. Stalls within Marina Front car park and Dock End. The William Riley Lifeboat will be on display on Dock End.

Street Entertainment

Whitby Pirate Festival will be entertaining visitors and there may be a special Krampus appearance. If you keep your eyes peeled Animated Objects will be on walkabout aboard their land-based galleons and a navy ship in Whitby across the festival weekend. Give them a wave, stop for a selfie and prepare yourself for some hearty banter and tall tales as the pirate code clashes swords with the pride of the King’s fleet! There may even be a shanty or two on the way...

There’ll be Fisherman Olympics with fishermen competing against each other in their everyday tasks to see who is superior. There’ll also be a fantastic tug-o-war at the end on Saturday.

Meanwhile Fisher Lassie Bidi Iredale will be entertaining festival goers with fishing songs from long ago and tales about the fisher lassies that used to work along the East Coast

Whitby Lobster Hatchery will be bringing their tanks along to allow visitors to get up close to their lobsters.  And there’ll also be children’s fairground rides to keep youngsters entertained. You can also pop along to the Whitby RNLI lifeboat station which will be opening its doors to visitors.

Look out for a special Splash Mob inspired by the folk song Herring’s Head and featuring some community-led herring-themed bunting created by local schools using recycled materials which will be on display around the festival site.