ST DENYS CARNIVAL & ARTS FESTIVAL

Carnival 23 May, Arts Festival 22-30 May 2026

Blog

  • Pull the Other One!

    St Denys Carnival is delighted to announce that a Tug of War contest will form part of the carnival celebrations at the Community Centre after the main procession. If you fancy putting together a team and challenging your neighbours, drinking buddies, work colleagues, sports teams, you just need to “rope in” eight people and sign

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  • St Denys Cake Off!

    St Denys Cake Off! Are you the next Mary Berry, Mr.Kipling or Delia Smith?

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  • Carnival Theme

    St Denys Crew are delighted to announce the theme of the 2025 St Denys Carnival – Nature! Drawing inspiration from the upcoming Urban Wild Festival, the beautiful green and blue spaces around St Denys and our unofficial area mascot, Milo the cat, the natural world is part of what makes St Denys an amazing place

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  • St Denys Carnival Returns!

    January 2025 – After a hiatus of more than 30 years, some of the members of the St Denys’ community (also known locally as the St Denys’ Crew) are embarking on bringing back the much-loved carnival to the streets of St Denys this coming May. Traditionally, the carnival consisted of motor powered vehicles and floats,

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St Denys Carnival returns for 2026 as the St Denys Carnival & Arts Festival.

As well as the return of the highly successful Carnival, St Denys Crew are delighted to announce the addition of the Arts Festival to the Carnival family, running from 22nd -30th May 2026.

The Festival of arts and performance will include art exhibitions featuring local artists, workshops, creative spaces, dance, music and more, bringing a whole 9 days of celebration, colour and culture to Southampton.

The Carnival itself will take place on Saturday 23rd May 2026, taking in the streets of St Denys, uniting our community spaces and culminating in after parties at our beloved pubs.

After the joy of last year’s Carnival, we are thrilled to announce that the theme of the 2026 St Denys Carnival is Pirates of the River Itchen. The theme pays homage to the river which gives St Denys peace, rest, activity and fun. Check out the 2026 information page for more!

Image courtesy of Scott May via Unsplash.