The highly acclaimed Fenland Food Festival is back for another year! Happening on Saturday 5th September 2026, from 10 am until 3 pm, at the Queen Mary Centre in Wisbech, with free entry.

Organised by the Ferry Project Cookery School, the festival aims to celebrate local food producers and suppliers, whilst also letting people know about the cookery school and what they offer.

This year there are two food zones, one indoors and the other outside, both with a live music stage. With over 25 food and drink vendors in attendance, there is a wide variety of food and drink on offer including: Fruit Pig, suppliers of black and white puddings to Fortnum & Mason and other gourmet restaurants who have their factory based in Wisbech; East Coast Mushrooms, growers and suppliers of gourmet mushrooms – varieties you won’t find in the supermarkets; Bramblebee Farm, with their delicious free range meats and grass fed beef and lamb from Emneth; and Flutterby Pantry with their wonderful homemade jams and preserves. There will also be local raw honey, cider, wine, beer, cakes, savoury bakes and much more.

Hot food will be the main event at the outdoor Street Food Zone. This year, the offering includes Cuppa Jo Jo with her signature tuktuk coffee stand serving fresh barista-style coffee, a hog roast supplied by the Fenland Roaster, goat curry and jerk chicken from JJEB Farm, gourmet wraps and dirty fries from Wrapshack, and for dessert, warm fruit crumble and custard from Crumbelicious.

Fenland Grow Project from Whittlesey will also be on hand with farm-to-fork activities for all the family to try, including milling your own flour. Fenmarc will be providing free activities for the children, and Ferry Project Cookery School will be delivering free have-a-go cookery sessions.

To get the festival vibe truly underway, there will also be live musical performances throughout the day, including local artists: Natasha Richardson (folk), Steven Lee (pop and rock), Ash Gower (reggae) and Clive Butcher (accordion).

Free talks and cookery demonstrations are also on offer. Acclaimed chef and local cookbook author, Alison Crouch, will be giving two demonstrations. The TikTok-famous farmer, David Wheatley will be giving a talk, as well as Andrew Callaghan from the Fenland Orchard Project. Harriet O’Shea will also be giving a talk about the work of Fenland Grow Project.

The Festival is hosted and organised by Ferry Project Cookery School. They teach clients of the Ferry Project, who are experiencing homelessness, how to cook, equipping them with valuable life skills to enable them to live independently. However, this is not all they do. The Cookery School also host community classes and events which are open to members of the public. All money raised from these classes gets ploughed back into their charitable work.

As a bonus – 50 copies of a 14-recipe cookery booklet written and developed by Alison Crouch and Ferry Project Cookery School will be given away for free to the first 50 people who come through the main entrance at the festival.

One of the festival organisers, Matt McChlery says “We are really looking forward to this year’s Fenland Food Festival – it just keeps getting better. We have more on offer this year with a wide range of different and exciting food and drink vendors attending. The festival is also even more family-friendly than it has been in the past and we hope the community turns out in force to celebrate the wonderful food of the place we call home – the fens!”

This year the Fenland Food Festival is sponsored by Fenmarc.  Jo Kypyn, Group Head of People at Fenmarc says: “At Fenmarc, we're proud to support Fenland Food Festival because it brings people together to celebrate the food, farming and community spirit that make our region so special. As a business rooted in Fenland, we're committed to championing local produce, supporting an inclusive event for all ages, and inspiring future generations to explore the exciting opportunities available within our sector. Fenland Food Festival is a fantastic event for the whole community, and we encourage everyone to come along, get involved and celebrate the very best that Fenland has to offer.”

Doors open at 10am and the festival finishes at 3pm at the Queen Mary Centre in Wisbech. You can find out more information on the Ferry Project Cookery School page on Facebook as well as on the Ferry Project website www.ferryproject.org.uk