The Mayor's Thames Festival September 11, 2010

London's largest free Arts festival.

The festival is a stunning, free celebration of London and its river and it has become a key highlight in the city's cultural life. Its river and water-focused activities aim to inspire and excite and its extensive education programme involving some 300 schools hopes to increase interest in and appreciation of the river and its environment.

Many Thames Festival activities are based on public participation. The festival commissions new work, and transforms unusual spaces on and around the River Thames with a mixture of street arts, performance, carnival, pyrotechnics, illuminations, art installations, exhibitions, river events, massed choirs, circus, music and dance, food and feasting. The finale is a magical illuminated Night Carnival that winds along the north and south banks of the Thames, followed by a fireworks display fired from the centre of the river itself.

Official Website: http://thamesfestival.org