From house party to angle grinding nuns. The ultimate DIY festival with The Old Sawmill Garden Party
This year sees the launch of the Old Sawmill Garden Party – a melting pot of off-the-wall ideas mixed with the weirdest and most wonderful acts, artists and entertainment, all brought together in the North of England.
It’s a festival that’s been years in the making; with Rob Henderson being inspired by the Halloween parties his mum threw in his youth, he reignited the events at his family home; the Old Sawmill in 2007. With the mantra to not take itself too seriously and a relentless focus on crazy themes, hugely immersive décor, and collaboration, the annual Halloween party grew year on year, until 300 people were showing up and Rob’s mum said enough was enough!
For the last few years the Old Sawmill team have been taking their events on the road, putting on shows and hosting rooms with the likes of Rumpus and IllumiNaughty, and running stages at festivals from Beat-Herder to Glastonbury.
After meeting so many great artists and organisers along the way, Rob Henderson has teamed up with co-organiser Jonathan Neasham, and a host of brilliant collaborators from the festival scene, to bring one hell of a show to the North of England.
We gate-crashed one of the team’s meetings in the build up to the festival to catch up with Rob and also ‘head jester’ and venue owner Luke Haritou and were completely blown away by their amazing passion, hilarious stories and spot-on ethos, this one’s not to be missed…