ORGANISERS of the Wimborne Minster Folk Festival have announced that they are to postpone this year’s event until early August.

The popular family event, which was due to take place from Friday June 12 to Sunday June 14 has been rescheduled for Friday August 7 to Sunday August 9, just eight weeks later.

In an announcement on the event’s website, the event’s committee said: “We appreciate there has been a small delay in making this announcement, but we wanted to postpone rather than cancel the main festival.

“There will obviously be alterations to the line-up but under the circumstances we wanted to try and offer something for people to enjoy.

“We appreciate that these dates are going to be tight given the Coronavirus pandemic, the end of which no-one can predict.

“However, this is the only summer weekend available to us and we will continue to monitor the situation as the coming months unfold.”

Thousand of people attended last year’s festival to watch a breadth of music and dance talents. One of last year’s highlights included eight monks from the Tashi Lhunpo Monastery performing alongside Dorset morris dancers during a procession.

The Buskers Bash and Live and Loud competitions, associated with the event, have been cancelled, however there are plans to make the former part of the re-arranged festival.

All traders, dance sides and musicians should have received an email from the organisers at about on Tuesday March 24 confirming the rescheduled dates.

People with existing event tickets or camping booking will have their tickets moved can move to the new dates.

If visitors can’t make the rearranged dates, they are advised to contact the webmaster@wimbornefolk.co.uk or Ticketsource for a full refund for tickets, and contact the campsite or Ticketsource for a full refund for the camping booking.