Plymouth Waterfront Festival

The Plymouth Waterfront Festival returns to Plymouth's historic waterfront on Saturday 29 August, from 10am to 6pm. It's run by the Plymouth Area Chamber of Commerce, which has put it on for 38 years now, so it's a proper fixture of the city's August calendar.

The festival's longest-running tradition is the Ducky Dash, the annual duck race where rubber duckies are released into Town Brook and prizes go to the winners. It's the kind of thing that's become a bit of a local rite of passage around here.

Beyond the race, there's a huge arts and crafts side to it, with hundreds of exhibitors setting up stalls. You'll find more than 30 food vendors scattered across the site, so there's plenty to eat while you're browsing. There's also a Kids Discovery Zone with things like martial arts, K9 demonstrations and mini golf, which makes it easy to bring the whole family along.

It's a long day out, running from 10am to 6pm on Saturday 29 August at the waterfront, with the Ducky Dash as the one thing that's been there since the early days.