Etruria Canals Festival 2026 presents World of Gardens, celebrating 40th anniversary of the Stoke-On-Trent Garden Festival

Etruria Canals Festival is back for 2026.  This year, the festivities take inspiration from the 40th anniversary of the Stoke-On-Trent Garden Festival of 1986, with the theme World of Gardens.  

Attendees can expect lots of garden-themed activities – including walkabout performances, creative activities and curated spaces.

Event Co-ordinator Rebecca Frankenberg from B. ARTS said, “Entering the Garden festival site in 1986 must have felt like entering another world of possibilities.  We’re hoping to give visitors a small taste of that with some of the curated spaces and activities across the weekend!”

Leek-based company Fern and Fables are turning the top of the site (the former Gasometer) into an ‘Explore and Play Garden’ offering a low demand, explorative play space full of open-ended and sensory opportunities to reimagine, explore, and play!

Internationally renowned puppetry company The Fetch Theatre will be bringing some of their stunning puppets of creatures you may find along the canal or in a garden.  Across the weekend they will be giving walkabout performances, running drop-in scrunch puppet workshops and holding mini- parades around site.

A new part of the site will be utilised this year with the former Canal and Rivers Trust yard (just past the museum) is being transformed into a creative workshop space for the weekend, where attendees can have a go at screen printing, cyanotype photography, flower making, textile activities, decorate their own spinning plate and more!

Opposite this space you’ll find Blacksmith Charis Jones from Sculpted Steel who will demonstrating in the on-site forge!

A little further on in the warehouse space Nimble Fingers will be demonstrating traditional canal textile crafts and inviting people to have a go at braiding and textile flower making, alongside ‘Canal and Roses’ painting demonstration.

On the lower terrace of the Museum – on the Saturday of the event you will find the Story Garden – with creative writing workshops and storytelling performances throughout the day.  

On the Sunday Ian and Jo Douglas will be on the main field with ‘The Magic Lantern’ running storytelling and shadow puppetry workshops. 

On the main field yowill be able to meet shire horses Ebony and Bayley, dressed in traditional canal attire and find out more about horse-boating!

B. ARTS climate café activities will be running both days of the event with a range of free eco arts workshops, and on the Sunday, the North Staffs and Neighbours Mother Garden network will be running a seed and plant swap.  Etruria Artists will be running free clay activities – making flower pressed tiles and inviting attendees to have a go at throwing on a kick-wheel.

In the triangle, visitors will be able to see a performance of ‘Everything is Possible’ at 12 and 2pm daily. This show with puppetry and live music is created and performed by the Social Agency and follows the story of a circus troupe between shows, trying to overcome a series of bizarre setbacks. The Social Agency is an arts-based social and support group for Autistic and Learning Disabled adults in Stoke-On-Trent

The canal itself will be full of historic narrow boats, and Shirley’s Bone and Flint Mill, which manufactured materials to enable potters to produce the ware that Stoke-on-Trent is renowned for, will be in steam and operating from 12.30 to 4.30 with the engine started on the hour. It is the only operating steam-powered Potter’s Mill in the world!

There will be a range of artisan, craft and charity stalls, street food and Lymestone Brewery beer tent, alongside a programme of music including Vox Americana, Stingray and Vibealicious on the main stage with The Boatband and Art Brasil performing canal-side.

The festival is co-delivered by a volunteer committee made up of representatives from Etruria Industrial Museum, Nimble Fingers, Etruria Artists, B. ARTS, and ilocal residents with support from Canal and Rivers Trust.

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Getting There

Free Public Parking this year is at Stoke on Trent College (Caldon Campus). The entrance to this is Stoke-on-Trent College, Stoke Road, Stoke-on-Trent ST4 2DG. 

There will be a FREE shuttle bus leaving from Stoke College carpark and dropping off/collecting from Etruria Museum Car park (next to the footbridge entrance to the site) every 15 minutes from 10:45am - 5:30pm.

Disabled Parking & Access

If you are a blue badge holder & have a disability where you can use steps, there are places in the main museum car park off Kilndown Close (ST1 4RB), BUT as entry to the site this way is via a staircase footbridge over the canal, this only shortens the distance to walk and cannot be used by a wheelchair. 

For the disabled parking on the right side of the canal, you need to come in by the Castlefield Street and Lower Bedford Street entrance (Sat Nav ST4 7AF)