1st ever Southport Sausage and Cider Festival hailed 'a huge success' with hundreds of visitors
Report and photos by Andrew Brown

THE 1st ever Southport Sausage and Cider Festival has been:- "a huge success" with hundreds of visitors enjoying top quality cider, delicious sausages and high energy entertaining weekend on:- Victoria Park, in Southport. 

Organisers are now planning their next big events; the return of:- Southport Summer Solstice this June and Southport Oktoberfest this October!

Organised by Southport Beer Festivals and Elite Events Group and hosted by Kam Wojtow inside a Large Beer Hall Marquee, Southport Sausage and Cider Festival delivered a lively Bavarian inspired atmosphere packed with ciders from across the UK, with drinks from the festival partner's website:- ThatchersCider.Co.UK.

Guests enjoyed a curated menu of over 20 ciders, alongside a variety of:- craft ales, beers, and lagers.

Festival goers were able to choose from daytime or evening sessions:-

• There were plenty of revellers in fancy dress, including:- 6 friends who came dressed as hot dogs! 
   

• There were plenty of giveaways, with visitors playing the popular:- "Spin to Win" experience.
   

• There were hundreds of prizes up for grabs, with exclusive branded Thatchers take home:- cups, shirts, bags, lanyards, drinks and hats, plus the chance to win your height in cider; 1 of the event's most talked about prizes.
   

• Food lovers savoured sizzling sausages from award winning Ready Steady Chef Chris Stead.

Entertainment will be at the heart of the festival, with the return of the crowd favourite:- Bavarian Stompers oompah band, bringing authentic, foot stomping tunes to the marquee.

Funds were also raised for the Bebe's Hive charity, which enjoyed a sell out Comedy Bingo night in the marquee the preceding night and also had a stall at the festival on the Saturday.

Elite Events Group CEO Mark Dilley said:- "What a brilliant weekend! Our first ever Southport Sausage and Cider Festival was a huge success; we'd like to thank everyone who came and enjoyed it!  We welcomed over 500 guests over the two sessions. There were over 25 ciders on sale, with the three most popular from the Lilleys producer with:- Bee Sting, Snails Bank producer with:- Raspberry Ripple and Thatchers Juicy Apple Chris Stead had amazing feedback from his cider and apple sausages and the spicy 3ft long sausages were fantastic not only for the competition but they tasted amazing too. Thatchers was on hand to help hand out lots of Thatchers merch and the winner of the:- 'Win your height in Cider' was Ben Hindley from Southport. Thatchers are now dispatching out to him a lovely variety of cider! We have had nothing but amazing feedback. This was our 1st Sausage and Cider Festival, and all the positive comments have been nice to hear. Our amazing band the Bavarian Stompers kept everyone on their feet; Kam our legendary host kept us laughing during the band breaks; and DJ Dela finished the party on a high to send everyone home wanting more. Just like with last year's Oktoberfest, we found people coming in from out of town from Hoylake, Huddersfield, Blackpool and other areas. All of them were staying in local hotels and guest houses before heading into Southport town centre after each session to visit many of Southport's great local bars and restaurants."

There is more to come. Mark Dilley said:- "We are now planning for our next run of events in Victoria Park. Our Summer Solstice event will be released this week to host 2 stages this year to expect tribute acts, local legend DJs and 80's themed line ups. Our next big beer festival will be our annual Oktoberfest, which will return in October straight after the Southport Comedy Festival with a bang! Tickets are already on sale and early birds are getting snapped up following on from the success of the sausage and cider festival."

These are more events like this event that will keep you entertained this year:-

• For more details about:- Southport Summer Solstice, on:- Saturday, 20 June 2026, visit:- VictoriaParkEvents.Co.UK.

• For more details about:- Southport Oktoberfest, on:- 23 October to 24 October 2026 visit:- SouthportOktoberFest.Com.