Free events at JORVIK Viking Festival 2024

Free events at JORVIK Viking Festival 2024 from 12 to 18 February 2024.

For many people, the cost-of-living crisis is restricting their access to a host of activities that they usually enjoy, but the team behind JORVIK Viking Festival have been keen to ensure that everyone can access the Vikings this half term, when Europe’s largest Viking festival returns to the streets of York.

“JORVIK Viking Festival is entirely organised and funded by York Archaeology, an educational charity, so whilst we do have a number of paid-for events during the Festival week, we are also keen to make sure that we continue to offer accessible free events so that there is no financial barrier to exploring the city’s Viking heritage,” comments events manager, Abigail Judge. 

“This year, we’ve got living history displays, live performances and entertainment, competitions and online events for people of all ages and interests that are free for everyone.  With the national bus fare cap of £2 on many routes into York from surrounding towns and cities, many more people can enjoy a great day out without a huge price tag!”

The free in-person highlights include:

• Living history encampment in Parliament Street.  Running every day from 10.30am to 4.30pm, meet the Vikings who are camping out in the city centre! Watch as they recreate traditional crafts, from woodworking and nalebinding (a form of Viking knitting) to jewellery making.  Make sure to get a selfie or two with the Vikings!  
• Arena performances and displays in St Sampson’s Square: alongside the encampment, gather around the arena for shows (daily, usually on the hour from 11am to 3pm, but timings may vary) for musical performances, weapons displays and storytelling.
• Soundmarks: York. A unique exhibition hosted at DIG on St Saviourgate, with free admission. A sound and art exhibition inspired by York Archaeology’s Roman York: Beneath the Streets. Open daily.
• March To Coppergate: A spectacular parade of Vikings marching through the city centre, from York Minster through to Coppergate. Visitors can enjoy brilliant views of the march along the parade route, which includes York Minster’s South Piazza (past the Constantine statue), Parliament Street from St Helen’s Square right down to Coppergate, and finishing outside JORVIK Viking Centre in the Coppergate Centre. The march starts at 1.30pm. 
• The Best Beard competition is getting even better in 2014 with the addition of the Best Dressed Viking competition!  Hosted on Sunday 18 February in the Arena on St Sampson’s Square, this fan-favourite event is free to watch or join in! Categories this year are:
  • Best Beard – homegrown for those able to cultivate magnificent facial hair
  • Best Beard – homemade, for the less hirsute.  Be creative – wool, fabric, pet fur or paper – all fabrications are welcome!
  • Best Beast – does your pet look like a Viking? Let us judge!
  • Best Cosplay – whether you are wearing authentic recreations of Norse fashion, or take your fashion cues from Marvel’s Thor, we want to see your cosplay!

Stagecoach Presents… On Sunday 18 February at 2pm, local performing arts group 'Stagecoach' will perform a short community theatre piece surrounding the Vikings.

For those not able to make it to York, there are still a number of free opportunities to embrace the Vikings online, including:

• The Richard Hall Symposium Presents: Fedir Androshchuk (Sunday 18 February at 2.00pm)

Fedir Androshchuk, Director General of The National Museum of the History of Ukraine, Kyiv, joins us for a special event to talk about a stray find brought to his museum on the eve of the invasion of Ukraine: a brow band of copper alloy representing part of a Coppergate-type helmet. With an introduction celebrating the links between Kyiv and York, 35 years after York Archaeological Trust mounted a ground-breaking exhibition of Kyivan artefacts in hologram form. (Please prebook a free ticket).

• In conversation with… the Viking Museum Stockholm (Tuesday 13 February at 6.00pm)

Hosts of That JORVIK Viking Thing Podcast, Miranda Schmeiderer and Lucas Norton are joined by guests from the Viking Museum in Stockholm to talk about the links between York’s Vikings and those in medieval Sweden.

For more information about all the events taking place at this year’s JORVIK Viking Festival, please visit jorvikvikingfestival.co.uk