Moonbury Rings Festival Is Coming To Dorchester
Friday, July 5th, 2019Important Notice: Apollo – One Giant Leap on Friday 19 July has been postponed. It will now take place on Sunday 21 July (gates open 6pm). All other events at Maumbury Rings remain unchanged.
Dorchester Arts have teamed up Dorchester Town Council to stage the Moonbury Rings Festival – a weekend of lunar-themed activities lifting off on 19th – 21st July 2019. The event is a celebration of one of the finest achievements known to man, coinciding with the 50th anniversary of the first Moon Landing.
Moonbury Rings Festival is an exciting highlight of this summers events at Maumbury Rings in Dorchester. The 3-day event is packed with a variety of fun-filled entertainment for people of all ages to get involved.
Programme of events at Moonbury Rings Festival:
Apollo – One Giant Leap
Friday 19th July
6pm – 11pm
The first evening of the festival will feature a stunning lantern parade and grand musical performance. A spectacular rendition of Apollo – One Giant Leap written by local composer Geof Edge, will feature roughly 500 local school children and professional musicians at the event. The audience can join in with the brand new song Touch the Moon – full details are on the Moonbury Rings website – so you can learn the song prior to the event. A giant screen showing images and films will provide a perfect backdrop to the evening.
6pm – Event opens to audience.
6:15pm – A parade with hundreds of moon and Apollo lanterns created by local children, starts at the Corn Exchange heads to Maumbury Rings.
7:15 – 8:30pm – Parade reaches Maumbury Rings – admire the lanterns ahead of the big event.
8:30pm – Sun Lotus Taiko performance.
9pm – Apollo – One Giant Leap.
10 – 11pm – Moon viewing – see Luke Jerram’s Museum Of The Moon as night falls.
Do bring your own seats: small folding camping chairs are best as space is limited. Don’t bring rugs, picnics, tents, gazebos or BBQs. Dress appropriately for the weather. Rain or shine, the show will go on! Food and drink, including a licensed bar will be available on site. However, you are welcome to bring drinks and snacks.
Open air Cinema Event
Saturday 20th July
4pm – 10pm
Dorchester Youth Extra are welcoming you to their increasingly popular open air cinema event. Check out for screenings of Wallace and Gromit in ‘A Grand Day out’, WALL-E and Apollo 13. Hot food, candy floss, popcorn, nachos, ice-cream coffee will be available to purchase as well a licensed bar. Gates open at 2pm so we suggest arriving early to guarantee a good spot.
4pm – The show opens with Wallace and Gromit in ‘A Grand Day Out’
4:30pm – WALL-E
6:45PM – Apollo 13
9-10pm – Moon viewing – another chance to see Luke Jerram’s Museum Of The Moon.
Do bring your own seats or rugs and picnics, but please also support the caterers. Please don’t bring tents, gazebos or BBQs. Dress for the weather.
Learn To Be An Astronaut
Sunday 21st July
Noon – 4pm
The final day of the festival will be a science fun day hosted by the Institute of Physics, Thomas Hardy School and Dorchester Town Council. This is the chance for aspiring youngsters to go through selection training by taking part in a range of tests to learn what it takes be an astronaut. There will be science demonstrations, interactive talks a chance to meet astronomers, astrophysicists, engineers, rocket sciences (including one who worked on Apollo 11!). Something for people of all ages to enjoy!
Do bring your own seats or rugs. The day will consist of a combination of activities and speakers, the choice is yours to be active or just relax and enjoy the talks. Do bring your own picnics, but please also support the event caterers.
The Learn to be an Astronaut event does depend on the weather, so if the weather looks very bad, some of activities will not be possible – please check the Moonbury Rings Facebook page for the latest updates.
Getting to Moonbury Rings Festival
Try to come by public transport or walk if you live locally. Maumbury Rings is close to Dorchester railway station and bus stops.
Car parking is available across the town centre, but please bear in mind that car parks near the site may be very busy.
For more information visit the Moonbury Rings website.
Dorchester events in 2019 at Borough Gardens and Maumbury Rings
