We've created this page to be the one-stop-shop to all Yestival knowledge! Please do read through this page before emailing us - if your answer is in here you're unlikely to get a response because our wonderful little volunteer team have plenty going on :)
Where is Yestival 2024?
We’re excited to welcome you to the new SayYesMore HQ, the Big Sky Hideaway in Lincolnshire, PE20 3SU. Big Sky is a renewables-powered campsite and the home by Dave and Emms Cornthwaite, who also happen to run SayYesMore!
When does Yestival 2024 Start and End
The gates open at 15:00 Friday 21st June 2024. Please arrive no later than 9pm on the Friday night, as our volunteers on the gate will need some nap time after that and the evening programme starts at 8pm.
Dinner will be served from 6pm and last servings will be at 8pm, with the evening session beginning at 8pm allowing time for people to arrive after a Friday workday.
We've planned the main festival activities to be on Saturday and Sunday to ensure anyone arriving late on Friday doesn't miss out.
Yestival finishes at 1pm on Sunday 23rd June 2024
How do I get there?
You can drive (we encourage carpooling!), fly, cycle, skate, walk or…any way you like. Public transport too!
We made a whole page about how you can travel to Yestival! Here it is!
How much are tickets and what do they include?
Three different all-inclusive ticket types will go on sale at 10am on Saturday 4th November 2023 on www.sayyesmore.com
85 x Weekend tickets: £150
15 x Mate or Date tickets (for two people): £280
An infinite(ish) number of Kindness of Strangers tickets, which will be given out to folks who can’t afford a full ticket
All tickets include:
2 nights camping (bring your own gear) or campervan pitch (these are limited)
Entry to all lectures, workshops and events
Food: Friday evening meal. Saturday breakfast, lunch and dinner. Sunday breakfast and lunch.
Endless smiles
A glow that won’t disappear when you leave the field of dreams.
Who is Yestival for?
Everyone and anyone who has reached the conclusion that life is better when we do new things and choose the positive approach. Although we're drawing on an incredible community of inspiring, active people based in London, we expect a few people to fly, cycle or skate in from further afield. To add some thoughts we asked our team this question and here’s what they said:
The adventure-curious. Dreamers and doers - Ellen Piercy
Those who see the bright things in life and want to share them - Scott Wallis
People looking for human connection and to have some time unplugged in nature - Rachel Rowson
Huggers! Those who just go for it. Inspiring, magical, kind, wonderful, amazing, bright shining stars - Suze Coutinho
Curious minds looking for inspiration on how to make life meaningful and memorable. Adventurous souls looking for like-minded friends for support, encouragement and inspiration - Kate Haas
What makes Yestival good value?
Yestival is one of very few YesTribe events that have a ticket price, and almost single-handedly the event pays for the annual running of SayYesMore, whose amazing team of nationwide volunteers run hundreds (sometimes over a thousand) events for free each year, bringing people together in the great outdoors.
It would be easy to compare a Glastonbury ticket to Yestival and wonder why the two are similarly priced, but hear us out. This is a small festival by comparison so we're starting from nearly zero in terms of infrastructure, and we also don't have a huge audience to spread the cost between.
If the fact that Yestival enables hundreds of free gatherings around the country each year isn’t enough, we also have lots of speakers and acts at Yestival, all who are each worth at least £10 to hear speak. Here you have them for a whole weekend. We truly believe that we're offering a really good value ticket, including six meals across the weekend, a beautifully created space where you can meet new, like-minded people and conjure up plans and challenges to change your life. That's priceless!
Are children allowed?
There is no DreamCamp this year. Yestival 2024 is a much smaller affair than most Yestivals of the past. We’ve a brand new site to enjoy and are slowly re-growing our team after the pandemic. While children are welcome we won’t have a dedicated programme (or catering) for tiny humans and therefore we’re not going to be offering children’s tickets.
We’ll be concentrating on talks and events geared towards adults and we’d naturally love you to be able to enjoy and focus fully on your Yestival experience at the same time as respecting the time and energy dedicated by our speakers.
Thanks so much for understanding our position. We hope parents can still find a way to come along.
Can my teenager buy a ticket?
Teenagers are welcome, although any children under 18 will need to be accompanied by an adult parent or guardian.
Food and dietary requirements
Your ticket includes food throughout the festival, from Friday dinner to Sunday lunch. We will be in touch with all tickets holders to ensure we know your dietary requirements, and vegans and vegetarians will of course be catered for, even when meat is available (which won't be every meal).
Drink
There will be a cafe and a bar at Yestival. We ask guests not to bring their own alcoholic drinks.
Is Yestival political?
100% NO. While everyone has their political beliefs we’re quite sure everyone is at their best when not judged by their politics. This is simply a gathering of good, adventurous and kind people, not one with an agenda or formed around views and opinions.
Who is speaking at Yestival?
A host of inspiring and positive people. Yestival's ethos is to encourage the best use of time throughout our lives and our line-up represents this.
From sessions to learn and share new skills, listening to tales from incredible adventures, and workshops galore about a wide range of subjects, it's rare to have this many incredible people in one place.
We’ll be sharing the line-up as the event approaches but while the talks are important, it’s the spirit of the weekend that is the real headliner.
Is it a camping festival?
Absolutely! We're not hiding away behind bricks and mortar (although the barn @ Big Sky is a very cool wooden place), this is a great chance to bond with new and old friends, enjoy the sweet Summer air beside a campfire, and tuck into a WARM sleeping bag at night after a long but unforgettable day.
We also have 4 acres of woodland on site and if you prefer a hammock instead of a tent there will be a section of woodland dedicated to hammock camping.
I don’t have camping gear. Can we hire gear or sleep in glamping accommodation?
If you don’t have your own camping gear we can also hire hammocks, a small section of tents, and also have a small amount of glamping accommodation on site. We can arrange this once tickets are sold.
Can we bring a caravan or motorhome?
Yes you can and for no extra cost. We set aside a specific area of our camping field just for you but please bear in mind this is just a field, we don’t have van-specific facilities like water, power, toilet empty or grey water disposal so please only come in self sufficient vans :)
PLEASE NOTE that our access is tight and for this reason have to limit larger motorhomes. We have limited space for vans therefore anything larger than a long wheelbase van may be too large. Please check with us.
In the event of adverse weather it will still be possible to bring your van but it will need to remain in the main carpark a short 3 minute walk from the festival village.
Can we have our own campfires?
No. Because of the number of people on site there will only be communal fires (marshalled by our team) over Yestival weekend.
What do I need to bring?
For a full answer, head over to our Yestival Packlist page :)
This is up to you, but we recommend a sleeping mat, good WARM sleeping bag (or duvet), tent, torch, warm layers (just in case), footwear suitable for a potentially muddy field, waterproofs in case of rain.
The walk between car parking and camping site is a couple of hundred metres at most so we recommend bringing everything in a bag(s) that are easy to carry.
We’ll be sending out information, kit lists and advice to all ticket holders in the weeks leading up to the event. Don’t worry, we gotcha!
What NOT to bring?
All food is included in the price of your ticket and we'll have ample tea and coffee for sale all day long. Subsequently please leave your stoves and gas canisters behind, after all, food always tastes better when shared with others.
We will have a well stocked bar served at very reasonable prices, (we're not in London so won't be charging crazy money for a nice cold beer or warming mulled wine.) No alcohol is allowed to be brought on to site by guests. Any that is found will be confiscated and returned once the festival is over. Please respect this rule.
Are there toilets and showers?
There will be clean composting toilets on site but no showers during Yestival, although there will be clean running tap water for those who feel the need to wash on a daily basis and stave off the onset of a communal campsite pong :)
Are pets allowed?
Regretfully we can't have pets at Big Sky. We love all animals, dogs included, but sadly our alpacas do not, and at any given time of the year either we have young alpacas around, or pregnant mums, and sadly other animals really stress them out.
Are there shops nearby to purchase anything I may have forgotten?
Boston has shops and supermarkets just ten minutes drive away, but we recommend (and prefer) all guests to stay on site once they arrive, until the festival closes. The parking spaces will be cramped and driving in and out won’t be easy.
If I don’t like camping, can I stay nearby?
Boston is nearby and there are various accommodations in the area, although we prefer everyone to stay on site during the festival. We do have a limited amount of glamping accommodation on site, which will be available to hire.
Do I need to bring wellies?
We’ll let you know if the site is wet ahead of the weekend, but being in June we hope this won’t be the case!
Do I need to bring additional cash?
There will be a coffee van, bar and merchandise stalls on site, so if you like to treat yourself bring a bit of cash. We’ll also have a card machine.
I can no longer attend. Is it possible to refund or transfer my ticket?
Tickets can be transferred in to someone else’s name up to 20 days before the festival, but refunds are not possible we’re afraid, as we plan the festival based on ticket sales. If you can no longer attend please email dave@sayyesmore.com with the new ticket holder’s name and email address so we can update our records and ensure they receive any communications being sent out in advance relating to Yestival. If you’re looking to buy a ticket for Yestival from someone else selling it, please check with the team before doing so - there can be spammers out there!
We just hope you can make it!
Parking
There will be parking at Yestival for £5 per vehicle, although parking is free if you arrive in a car with three or more people! Here at SayYesMore we prefer slow travel but if you do need to come by car then we encourage you to check out the carpooling thread here on Facebook.
If you are driving please use Facebook Event page to see if you can offer a lift and fill your car to the capacity.
Other transport?!
In the spirit of SayYesMore we love all modes of alternative non motorised travel. So if you are up for the adventure arrive at the festival in an imaginative way.
If you're riding a bike, skateboarding, paragliding or pogo sticking to the event do let us know so we can give you a good welcome!
What is Yestival?
Yestival is the brainchild of adventurer and author Dave Cornthwaite, whose SayYesMore project has seen the sprouting of countless adventures, projects and conscious businesses around the world. The microfestival is run by a happy crowd of folks who all met through the YesTribe.
Directly linked with the YesTribe, Yestival is a chance to create ideas for a better future, both personally for everyone attending and for society as a whole. We see a little bit of magic in bringing people together for a weekend of stories outside of the city. From speakers to workshops to chats around the campfire, it's going to be an amazing weekend and we hope you can join us.