Rhubarb Lovers Rejoice

The Rhubarb Festival Wakefield is one of the first food and drink festivals in the national calendar – and in 2022 it promises to start things off with a bang!

With a whole new programme of chef demos including Sabrina Ghayour, curated by Yorkshire Food Guide, as well as a gin experience showcasing mouth-watering rhubarb cocktails. There is sure to be something to everyone’s taste.

The all-important food and drink market has over 50 chalets where you can sample and purchase local and regional delights, while families will enjoy gardening, growing and foraging workshops as well as lively street entertainment and music.

Extend your stay with the Rhubarb Food & Drink Trail around the city, with restaurants and bars putting on rhubarb-themed food and drink throughout the weekend.

Wakefield is part of the Rhubarb Triangle where rhubarb is grown in special sheds in a process known as “Forcing”. Each year in February, to coincide with the growing season, Wakefield City Centre comes to life with a festival dedicated to its most famous vegetable…

“The demand became so intense that eventually nowhere outside of the famous Rhubarb Triangle could compete!”

Rhubarb fever began in 1877, when the Whitwell family of Leeds began to cultivate the vegetable in special sheds, in the shade of the Pennines, with plenty of Northern downpours, Yorkshire growers could rival established London growers with cheap rhubarb a plenty!

The demand became so intense that eventually nowhere outside of the famous Rhubarb Triangle could compete! Everyone wanted Yorkshire rhubarb. Overnight trains left the Triangle daily, bound for markets in London and overseas.

Family names such as Oldroyd became synonymous with Yorkshire rhubarb, with secrets of production and prized strains handed down from generation to generation. Growers fought each year to win awards for their strains at the Annual Rhubarb Show and thus began the celebration of the delicious Yorkshire treat.

The festival will take place on the 25th to the 27th February, with events centring around the Cathedral precinct and the Bull Ring in Wakefield with other parts of the city joining in with fringe and food events to celebrate all things rhubarb.

For more information visit wakefield.gov.uk and to learn more about the history of rhubarb in Yorkshire go to yorkshirerhubarb.co.uk

Rhubarb Festival Wakefield 25 – 27 February 2022

Did anyone say staycation?

Make a weekend of it with our top 4 things to do in Wakefield during The Rhubarb Festival from 25-27 February 2022.

Barbara Hepworth: Art & Life at The Hepworth Wakefield

Running until Sunday 27th February 2022, the exhibition presents an in-depth view of the Wakefield-born artist’s life, interests, work and legacy. Find out more at hepworthwakefield.org/

Brewery Tour at Ossett Brewery

Immerse yourself in an award-winning brewery. Head behind the scenes, learn about the brewing process and maybe have a drink or two! Find out more at ossett-brewery.co.uk/

Gala Day at the National Coal Mining Museum

Brass bands, union banners and beers. Family friends, the fun of the fair…Experience the sights and sounds of Gala Day in this nostalgic temporary exhibition. Find out more at ncm.org.uk/

A World of Good at Wakefield Museum

A multimedia experience of sculpture and sound, the exhibition explores the work of pioneering 19th century environmentalist Charles Waterton, who built the world’s first nature reserve. Find out more at wakefield.gov.uk/museums-and-castles/wakefield-museum

Find out more at expwake.co/RhubarbFest