About City Encounters

A special Spring Bank Holiday treat for all the family. The city comes alive with professional, original street theatre, dance, music and circus performances that will delight all ages. There will be craft activities and fun for all the family.

To kick off the Bank Holiday in style, City Encounters will open with Patch's Parade.

View the full schedule

What's On

Patch's Parade

Presented by Wiltshire Creative
Sunday 26 May, 11am
Starting at Milford Street Bridge
FREE - no ticket required!

We are thrilled to welcome a new, over six-metre-tall friend, Patch and their penguin companion as they travel the Salisbury streets on a spectacular journey of friendship. This is a true celebration of the city, heralded by over 100 community members, singing, dancing and rocking the route.

Learn More

Five performers dressed in red and blue marching band outfits. They are standing on the street surrounded by crowds. They are making silly faces and some are holding brass instruments.

Band at the End of the World!

Presented by Ramshacklicious
26 May | 12:15pm & 2:30pm
27 May | 11:45am & 2:15pm
FREE - no ticket required!

Roaming, brass heavy musical mayhem... five musicians arrive dressed in punk marching-band attire, with the intensity of the inevitable end of the world burning through their eyes.

See their simple existence play out through a series of striking, bizarre moments and audience interactions.

The Crimplene Crusaders

Presented by Vamos Theatre
26 May | 12:15pm, 2:00pm & 4:15pm
27 May | 11:30am,1:15pm & 4:00pm
FREE - no ticket required!

No one upholds good old-fashioned values like these glamorous grandmas! These campaigners for moral values are out and about keeping a firm eye out for any slouching, flirting or handholding. There's one thing on their minds: to keep standards high!

Three circus performers dressed in green one-piece swimming costumes are hanging on to the pole of a giant beach parasol. This parasol is red and yellow and is outside in the grass on a sunny day.

Everywhere's a Beach

Presented by Hikapee Circus Theatre Company
26 May | 12:15pm & 2:30pm
27 May | 1:00pm & 4:00pm
FREE - no ticket required!

Join us for a day at the beach unlike any other in this high energy, circus theatre show!

Perfect for the whole family, Everywhere's a Beach is a charmingly ridiculous performance, taking place on a giant revolving beach parasol.

Three dancers dressed in black athletic jumpsuits and leather caps stand in a junkyard with a bulldozer in the background. Two of the dancers are blurred in the foreground in an embrace, the other is striking an acrobatic pose on a metal frame that forms the basis of their show.

Lungs of our City

Presented by 2Faced Dance Company
26 May | 12:45pm & 3:30pm
27 May | 12:00pm & 3:15pm
FREE - no ticket required!

Enter a futuristic space, where wanderers of a desolate world are faced with our polluted cities. This emotional yet energetic new dance piece explores our hopes and fears for the future of our planet. Witness a world that questions what happens if we come together and change our vision of the future?

Other Activity

Craft Activities
FREE | Market Square
Join us for fantastical animal and carnival-themed crafts with Wiltshire Scrapstore, sensory play and dressing up for under 5s and Graffiti workshops.
Live Music
FREE | Poultry Cross
An exciting lineup of loval musicians performing a mix of classics and originals.
Stay tuned for the full lineup.
Walk with Giants!
FREE | Market Square and Guildhall Square
Your chance to get up close and personal with the stars of Patch's Parade as they roam through the city centre. Be sure to welcome our new (and old) friends!