Camp Bestival is celebrating 18 years. In light of this, and the announcement of the lineup this morning, we spoke with one of the co-founders of the event, Robert Gorham, better known as Rob Da Bank, 53, about his festival of fun for all ages.
The main goal of the festival is to provide “fun and good music for families” said Gorham.
“We wanted to set up a space that families and parents can escape from normality and go somewhere magical for the weekend”.
The festival originally ran adjacent to their other festival known as Bestival in 2004. This festival was more catered towards young people in the same way that Boomtown draws in its audiences.
It was when Gorham had children of his own as well as his friends around him that he decided there was a need for a space for families to have fun all together.
Bestival stopped in 2018 but Camp Bestival took over its momentum and became a large event in Dorset growing year on year.
Gorham said “you forget about real life when you’re there and enter this wonderland.
The Festival is about so much more than the music.
You get to do things that you may not always be able to such as wood making, baking bread, stargazing and even planting seeds in an allotment.
All these things allow space for family time in ways some may not always be able to do.
There is also emphasis on wellbeing with yoga and meditation etc. on the lineup.
Elevating the voices of new artists was something else that can be looked forward to.
“We felt like being a bit braver with new artists,” said Gorham.
Artists to look out for from Gorham would be Self Esteem, one that people hadn’t heard of but is a female artist with a lot to bring.
Another one would be Fulu Musiki. “I heard them at Glastonbury”.
They are a band from the Democratic Republic of Congo which use recycled materials to create their music.
Gorham said that he is “happy to be a part of Dorset’s heritage” and especially loves seeing the work that he and his crew has put in over the past year come together. The day before on Wednesday “I love looking around at everything we have created together, this amazing team.”
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