York’s first street art festival is coming to Acomb this weekend – and here’s everything you need to know.
Organised by York’s Art Of Protest Projects, it will see internationally renowned mural artists come together for AcombFest from Friday 3 to Sunday 5 July 2026.
The inaugural festival will take place across 22 venues in Acomb with a packed programme of more than 90 events for all ages. These include:
- live mural paintings
- 20 art installations
- live paint jam and spray battles
- street food
- more than 30 bands, DJs and performers.
Artist headliners include Australian SMUG, known as ‘the world’s best photorealistic artist’, Sheffield based muralist and runner up for ‘Best mural in the World’ 2024 Peachzz, world-leading wildlife artist Curtis Hylton, and returning Acomb superstar Sledone.
Participating venues in Acomb include Blue Bird, SoJo, The Tap, The Fox, Acomb Methodist Church, Gateway Church, Acomb Explore Library, Book and Bevs, the Carlton Tavern, and Holgate Windmill.
Events will include free street art workshops, artist talks, bush craft, live spray battles, community cinema, spoken word performances, artist market, exhibitions, trails, light installations, history tours, and much more.
There will be specialist food and drink offerings throughout the festival including Spirit of Yorkshire and an international mixologist.
AcombFest Map
Click here for a larger version.
What’s On
Friday 3 July
Explore Library
9:30am – 12:30pm
Mosaic Workshop
10am & 1pm
Hidden History Walk
Gateway Centre
10am – 6:30pm
Oak Room Art Exhibition and Art Workshops – Visit the Oak Room for art exhibitions & creative workshops. Curated by That Acomb Art Thing.
The Carlton Tavern
2pm – 5:30pm
PaintJam – Rare Collective & Art of Protest setting up PaintJam ready for the artists, DJs & mixologist
7pm – 9pm
Live World Cup Mega-Screen – 32: Group D & G runners-up
Acomb Front Street
3pm – 4pm
Art of Protest Street Art Workshops
The Fox
3:30pm – 6pm
Water Art – After school fun! Join the Fox team in a floor art event that’s free for all – just bring the creativity
4pm – 9pm
Clucking Oinks Fried Chicken
6pm – 8pm
Tri-Starss – Beer garden gig 70s-90s Rock
The Crooked Tap
All weekend
Rare Collective Urban Art Exhibition
4pm – 10:30pm
DJ Sola & Friends – Live music, craft beer, and dancing
6pm – 9pm
Philly’s Woodfired Pizza – Quality authentic Neapolitan wood-fired pizza
SOJO
5:30pm – 8:30pm
Yorkshire Beer & Cheese Tasting – A celebration of Yorkshire produce
8:30pm – 11pm
Live bands – Various local bands perform live sets
Bluebird Bakery / Rise
6pm – 7:45pm
AcombFest Talks – Curator and Muralists talk AcombFest (Whisky-Highball on arrival, tickets required)
7:45pm – 8:30pm
Whisky Tasting – Spirit of Yorkshire + Tulum Spirits (tickets required)
8:30pm – 10:30pm
Flour Power Sound System with Yeastie Boy – Live music (tickets required)
The Hand
8pm – 9:30pm
Josh Pulleyn – Live music
Inn on the Green
8:30pm – 11pm
Live music – Various local bands perform live sets
Saturday 4 July
Bluebird Bakery / Rise
9am – 12pm
Wild Bee Flowers – Sustainable florist & flower farm
10am – 3pm
Fresh Bakes – Bluebird’s fresh bakes & goodies
1pm – 3pm
Karl Mullen Live Piano – Live piano outside the bakery
All day
Craft Beer and Speciality Cans – Explore fridges of craft beers & small brewery cans,
regularly rotating
7pm – 11pm
Groovetone + The Unknown Stuntman – They will be shaking the room with jazz, blues, latin, funk and ska tunes (tickets required)
The Place
10am – 12pm
Leo Morrey Art Workshops
12:30pm – 2pm
Drummers
12pm – 4pm
Stephen Hodgkins Art Workshops
West Bank Park
10am – 3pm
Trapeze classes
Holgate Windmill
10am – 3:30pm
Wind, Soil, Rock Art Installation – Video, sound and life-size puppet
The Carlton Tavern
10am – 6pm
PaintJam – Come see nine artists begin their paints
10am – 10pm
Rare Collective DJs + Audiovisual – An eclectic mix of DJ’s and Audio Visual Producers for the PaintJam – the decks will be jumping while paint dries
10am – 10pm
Tulum Spirits Collective – Flying in from Mexico, Craig Feather, mixologist serving up a menu of luxury bespoke cocktails from 11am, with non-alcoholic delights starting at 10am
11am – 8pm
Streetfood
The Crooked Tap
All weekend
Rare Collective Urban Art Exhibition
10:30am – 12pm
The Art of Kokodema Workshop – tickets required
12pm – 8pm
Yuzu East Asian Street Food
12pm – 1:30pm
Charlie Swainton – Live music
2pm – 3:30pm
Amy & Rob – Live music
4pm – 5:30pm
Craig Long – Live music
6pm – 7:30pm
James Scanlan – Live music
8pm – 10pm
Melting Pot – An authentic 90s Indie, Britpop & dance tribute – Time to party like it’s 1996!
Acomb Methodist Church
10:30am – 2pm
Bloom Baby – Fiona Price Baby Classes
11am – 2pm
Music Therapy
12pm – 1pm
Jazzy J’s – Live music
12:30pm – 6pm
Cafe
1pm – 2pm
Ten Thousand Pairs of Hands – Live music
1:30pm – 4:30pm
Acomb Flower Guild – Adult & Child Workshops
3pm – 3:30pm
Acomb Choir
3:45pm – 8:45pm
Acomb Community Cinema
Explore Library
11am – 3pm
Acomb History Group
4pm – 7pm
Open Cinema: ‘Hoppers’ – Cinema set-up with popcorn (tickets required)
Acomb Front Street
11am – 3pm
Art of Protest Street Art Workshops
Books and Bevs
12:30pm – 3:30pm
Storytelling with Lara McClure
Fishpond Woods
2pm – 3:30pm
Mini Beast Safari
The Fox
12pm – 8:30pm
Posca Doodle Wall
12pm – 9pm
Clucking Oinks Fried Chicken
2pm – 4pm
The Mothers – Live music
4pm – 6pm
Ten Thousand Pairs of Hands – Live music
6pm – 8pm
Steam Pigeon – Live music
6pm – 8:30pm
Beermat Art Lost Property Collage
Inn on the Green
2pm – 11pm
Open Mic Night
The Sun
3:30pm – 5pm
BBQ
4pm – 8pm
Fireball Rockband
The Hand
8:30pm – 11pm
Pete Hale – Live music
Sunday 5 July
Fishpond Woods
10am – 11am
Moth Reveal
Acomb Methodist Church
10am – 12pm
Interactive Worship
12pm – 6pm
Pop-Up Cafe
1pm – 4:30pm
Crafty Fox Kids Club – REE, fun, hands-on art & craft activities for 2–4yr olds
1pm – 4pm
Bio-Diversity Collage – Get to Grips with the Ecological Crisis
6pm – 8pm
Art Speedquiz
West Bank Park
10am – 3pm
Trapeze classes
Bluebird Bakery / Rise
10am – 3pm
Bluebird’s Sunday Ritual – Sunday specialties include savouries like Bengali five-spice
rolls, spinach & chickpea rolls, and various artisan pastries.
6pm – 8pm
Baps’N’Bingo – With Dolly Trolly and Frieda Nipples (tickets required)
8pm – 11pm
Guilty Pleasures Disco – Closing party, crowd-pleasing pop, disco, R&B, power ballads (tickets required)
Holgate Windmill
10am – 4pm
Wind, Soil, Rock Art Installation – Video, sound and life-size puppet
The Crooked Tap
All weekend
Rare Collective Urban Art Exhibition
10:30am – 12pm
Posca Pebble Art
12pm – 8pm
Yuzu East Asian Street Food
12:30pm – 5:30pm
Acomb Artists’ Kids Art Classes
12:30pm – 11pm
Cask Ale Festival
6pm – 10:30pm
AcombFest Closing Party – DJ Sola & Friends of Rare Collective
The Fox
12pm – 4pm
Bushcraft and Nature Art – With Tom Rawson of ‘Branch Out’
12pm – 9pm
Clucking Oinks Fried Chicken
2pm – 4pm
Bare Brass Band – Live music
4pm – 6pm
V2 – Live music
Inn on the Green
12pm – 5pm
Sunday Roast – OMNI Darts challenge & simulators
The Carlton Tavern
1pm – 6pm
PaintJam – Artwork continues
10am – 10pm
Rare DJ Sets – Live music
10am – 5pm
Tulum Spirits Collective – Flying in from Mexico, Craig Feather, mixologist serving up a menu of luxury bespoke cocktails from 11am, with non-alcoholic delights starting at 10am
11am – 8pm
El Chappo – Sheffield’s finest bring new takes on traditional Mexican
12pm – 3:30pm
The Tavern Sunday Roast – Traditional roasts
9pm – 11pm
Live World Cup – Group D & G runners-up
Gateway Church
2pm – 4pm
Little Green Fingers – Plant up your very own container pot and take it home with you
The Sun
4pm – 7pm
BBQ
4pm – 7pm
York Turnpike Trust – 5-piece – classic R&B covers
The Hand
5:30pm – 9pm
The Dunwells – Leeds based Indie-folk / Americana band with strong vocals, powerful melodies and heartfelt lyrics.
The festival was made possible by funding from York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority Vibrant and Sustainable High Street Fund, Great Acomb Community Forum, City of York Council, York St John University and local business and the community.
Find out more at the AcombFest website.
