Today should have been the day that Latitude Festival 2020 would be starting. Around about now I would be heading onto the festival field and getting ready for a day in the comedy tent, followed by an evening of music performed by bands that I’m not cool enough to have heard of. And loving every minute…
Instead, this year, we’re celebrating Latitude weekend from home by eating falafel and halloumi wraps in the garden and drinking cocktails from our reusable Latitude Festival cups.
I’ve grown quite a collection of Latitude cups since I brought my first one home with me in 2008. In fact, I’ve accumulated about twelve over the years. And when I was missing a particular design, an Instagram friend offered to send me her cup from the festival!
The design of the cups changes every year and it’s always exciting to see what colours and patterns have been used to celebrate the festival. Don’t worry, I haven’t pinched these cups – you pay £2 for your reusable cup and have it refilled all weekend.
In recent years you could even buy the cup from the merchandise stand without having to buy a pint of beer – which is great for the non-drinkers like me. Plus I was able to buy a cup or two for my friends who couldn’t make it to the festival that year.
I particularly like the 2008 and 2009 cups because those where the first times I went to Latitude and they are covered in daisies. I think the white daisies were 2008 and the colourful daisies were 2009, although correct me if I’m wrong. The tenth anniversary cup was a rather sought-after one too.
They’re actually rather handy cups to have at home as they’re unbreakable – and seeing as we mostly enjoy drinks while sitting out in our garden, that makes them extremely useful.
I remember one year that we were low on money so I was actually able to take a few of my reusable cups back to the festival (we had some duplicates) and trade them in for a refund of £2 per cup – which gave us some spending money while we were there – bonus!
I’ve seen that many people around Suffolk are celebrating this year’s non-Latitude Festival in fun and creative ways. For example, writer and comedian Ann Hirst has made a flock of pink sheep for her garden and you can watch the videos on her Instagram profile here. And artist Andy Greenacre has built a scale model landscape of Latitude’s comedy and cabaret tents and has shared the video of ‘Littletude’ on YouTube here – hilarious!
BBC Radio Suffolk will be celebrating the festival all weekend with lots of silly going’s-on on Jon Wright’s evening show tonight from 6pm. I hope you enjoy Latitude from the comfort of your own homes and gardens this year and I’ll see you at the festival in 2021!
