b-side’s Big Weekend honoured the spirit of Portland and Weymouth as Towns of Culture 2025, revealing untold stories from our island.
The famous Portland Fair was a hugely popular annual event for more than 200 years – part childhood rite, part magical interruption to everyday life. But we’re not here to rebuild or reinstate the old Fair plank-by-plank.
The 2026 festival, we will reawaken the experience of it — in a stranger, twistier, sideways sort of way. Think of it as a Fair on a parallel Portland: familiar but off-kilter, a place where weird echoes, alternate histories and “what ifs” come out to play.
That Other Place is a mirror-Island, a near-twin, a parallel universe that looks like Portland… until it doesn’t.
Festival artists, events and more to be announced soon…
Plan Your Visit
Time to get practical – let us help you plan your b-side getaway from one day to a long weekend in this glorious place, experiencing incredible artwork and making new friends. Here’s some information on how to get here and some ideas on where to stay too.
