Festival History
2016 – When it all started
Duffield Arts Festival was founded in 2016 by village resident Jonathan Leach following a desire for more community events in the village.
The inaugural 2016 Arts Festival featured a variety of shows and exhibitions across several venues in Duffield including:
- ghost talks
- pianoathon – an open event for people to play on the piano
- Singing Spectacular
- Childrens plays
- Spoken Word Competition
- Several arts stall and exhibitions
The festival also featured a village-wide scarecrow trail where households and local businesses were invited to create a scarecrow based on a well known fictional character of their choosing. Over 50 scarecrows were created for the 2016 festival, and all were dotted at various locations all over the village.
Competitions also formed a part of the 2016 festival including a Story Writing Competition and a Childrens Colouring Competition, both of which were open to entrants in the village and beyond.
2017 – The Second Coming
Following on from a successful first event in 2016, the 2017 Arts Festival saw the scarecrow trail extended to run across five days. The second Duffield Arts festival was another resounding success with several events taking place throughout the village.
2018 – Three Times Another Winner
The third Duffield Arts Festival followed a similar format to 2017 and was another huge success.
2019 – Scarecrow Trail becomes its own
Building on from the success of previous years the 2019 festival saw the village scarecrow trail move to run a week before the main arts festival, and in effect become an event in its own right. Several of the scarecrows would remain on display for the main arts festival the following week.
2020 – COVID postpones
As with many other events across the country Duffield Arts Festival didn’t take place in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
2021 – The Scarecrows Return
Following the unfortunate cancellation the previous year 2021 saw the Scarecrow Trail return to Duffield.
2022 – Tuned in to the trail
Building on a successful return in 2021 the Scarecrow Trail returned in 2022 with a TV and Radio theme.
2023 – Hello Hazelwood
The Scarecrow Trail had another successful year, and for the first time the trail was extended to include the neighboring village of Hazelwood.
2024 – Lights, Camera, Scarecrows
The Scarecrow trail took to the movies with a cinema theme. Following its successful debut the previous year Hazelwood once again joined Duffield for the 2024 trail.
2025 – Biggest Fundraising Trail (to date)
The 2025 Scarecrow Trail raised its biggest amount of money for charity in the events’ history (to date), raising nearly £1,500 for it’s chosen charity.