Events
Great events for everyone
Dartford holds events all year round for you to enjoy.
Most of our events are free. Where there is a charge, we try to keep the cost low so as many people as possible can enjoy them.
You can see Dartford's full events calendar here, but some of the biggest dates in our calendar are on this page.
Looking ahead
Our events team are busy preparing for a fantastic 2025.
From International Women's Day to the Big Day Out, St George's Day to our Children's Book Festival, there's something for everyone in our events calendar.
This year's Big Day Out will be extra special, with the steam rally stretching across two days to celebrate Dartford's engineering past.
As always, there'll be plenty of live entertainment too, plus roaming performers, community stalls and the return of the Kids' Zone to the Outdoor Theatre.
Big day out
Big Day Out
Big day out
St George's Day
Dartford boasts one of the biggest St George's Day parades in the country. We work with Cohesion Plus to get the whole community involved in celebrating England's patron saint.
In 2024 more than 700 pupils from local schools took part by creating special displays to parade from the Civic Centre to Central Park.
Schools followed a life sized dragon and St George through the town, ending in a special ceremony at The Bandstand.
International Women's Day
Our International Women’s Day conference returns on March 10.
In previous years we have celebrated local women by inviting them to speak at our IWD Conference.
This year’s theme is based around Accelerating Action for Gender Equality, more details will be available on our Events pages.
We look forward to seeing you there.
Outdoor Theatre and Outdoor Cinema
Over the late spring and early summer, Dartford's Central Park opens up for a run of Outdoor Theatre performances.
This run of shows includes matinee performances for families to enjoy, and evening entertainment that has previously included opera, Shakespeare, and modern classics. In the warmer months, we also put on a run of movie nights, mixing cult classics with popular films so everyone can attend.
Paying our respects
Dartford also takes time to honour its past. In recent years we have held respectful events at Dartford War Memorial for the 80th anniversary of D-Day, and we also commemorate Armed Forces Day, Victory in Europe Day and Victory in Japan Day every year.
We also hold a Remembrance Sunday ceremony every year at Memorial Gardens to mark the end of the First World War and also pay our respects to everyone who gave their lives in defence of freedom.
Event partnerships
We're very proud to work with various partners to make these great events possible. Cohesion Plus has become a key partner of ours on various events, including St George's Day and our weekly market entertainment. They also lead on cultural events such as the hugely popular Festival of Lights and Holi.
We partner up with The Orchard Theatre on Dartford Pride, which is growing in popularity every year, and our Parks team organise Bat Walks and Wildflower Walks in partnership with North West Kent Countryside Partnership.
Dartford Business Awards
Every year we like to celebrate the local entrepreneurs, staff and apprentices who make such a big difference to our daily lives.
The Dartford Business Awards is a chance to thank all of the local companies great and small for their contribution to Dartford.
It's also a chance to network and meet other companies while enjoying a fantastic night of entertainment.
Dartford Pride
We've been proud to organise Dartford Pride with the Orchard Theatre since 2022. Since then we've had big names perform like The Pussycat Dolls' Kimberley Wyatt, Ru Paul's Drag Race's River Medway and Pop Idol legend Gareth Gates.
In 2024 we held Dartford Pride across two stages, with plenty of local acts involved to make sure the community was right in the heart of the celebration.