Our Mission – DeeFest

DeeFest is primarily about bringing people together for a weekend of fun and joy, celebrating everything that the Dee Valley gives us. We aim to do this having as many lasting secondary benefits for the area and community as we can.

Below we outline some of the event’s core values, and the steps we are taking to live by them. We are always looking for ways to improve what we do (within the limits of our volunteers’ time / energy), so if you have any feedback or suggestions for ways we can further improve the event’s positive impact, or organisations we can partner with, please let us know!

Be inclusive – this is an event for all

We want anyone and everyone who enjoys paddling on the River Dee to feel welcome and able to come and get involved in DeeFest. We don’t want anyone to feel put off; whether that’s by the general vibe, the level the events are pitched at, the ticket pricing, physical barriers, demographics or who gets given prizes.

How do we do that?

Setting up the weekend to allow people to make the event what they want Shuttles run all weekend. Events are all optional. There’s demo boats and trade stands to visit. Take part in everything, or just come and paddle with your mates while enjoying the festival vibes. Make the event your own!
Keeping the ticket price as low as we can Thanks to countless volunteer hours and generous event support from our sponsors & partners. Want to be involved? Please get in touch!
Spot prizes to recognise any notable involvement Whether commitment to fancy dress, helping out fellow paddlers, epic dance moves, funny shenanigans or anything else embodies the spirit of DeeFest… prize nominations are not limited by any categories. Anyone can win!
Our events focus on fun and participation (and entirely optional) The Mass Start is separated by self-selecting ability races, so inexperienced or less confident paddlers don’t have to race against experts. Meanwhile, paddlers of all genders and ages within that ability category race at the same time so they all get the same experience of a genuinely large field mass start and can see how they compare. Prizes are still given to the top finishers of mens, womens and juniors. The Ducky Cross and Pool Inflatable events allow almost any experience level to get involved on an even playing field. Being good at kayaking holds limited advantage; and maximum fun can be achieved by anyone with the skills to safely swim in white water. The Taily Jam and Rodeo are all about being innovative, having fun and impressing the judges for spot prizes – and giggles along the way. While success in Warrior of the Wave is part skill, part courage, part luck with timing and part carnage survival!

Benefit the local economy

DeeFest brings 350-400 people to the Llangollen area over at least 2-3 days, and we want the local community to feel the benefit of that.

How do we do that?

Use local businesses to provide our services Such as the Saturday night bar and Mile End Mill access.
Encourage local spending We have made a very purposeful choice not to provide food or accommodation as part of the event ticket. This means that the DeeFest paddlers will be spending their money across a wide range of local hospitality providers, and able to spend according to their own budget needs or preferences. Our schedule is planned to allow paddlers sufficient time to enjoy a restaurant meal in town on Saturday evening if they wish, and of course many will have done the same on the night before (we encourage people to arrive and register on Friday). Our Saturday night party venue is purposely chosen to be in the centre of town, to maximise the potential of secondary spend across the town.
Date choice We have chosen the date of the event to try and avoid peak season for both general tourism and the outdoor industry businesses in the area, but at a time when hospitality businesses are staffed to be able to capitalise on the opportunity.
Promote and support local businesses We actively encourage partnerships with local businesses, and look for ways that we can work together. This might be via promo material or special offers in the participant goodie bags or promotion on our social media, commentary shout-outs and listing on our website, depending on the business type and partnering opportunities. If you’re a local business and are interested in a mutually beneficial partnership, please get in touch.

Have a positive relationship with the local community

We want to minimise any potential negative impacts DeeFest may have, while maximising the positive impacts. It is our hope that DeeFest can be used to further strengthen the relationship between paddlers and the wider community in the Dee Valley.

How do we do that?

Promote and encourage spectating (safely) DeeFest is an opportunity to capture the imaginations of many people: whether local, passing by, tourists or family / friends of people taking part. With so much action-packed, smile-filled, joyful activity going on; what better time to show non-paddlers why we love this sport and this river? We put up posters up locally, work with the Tourist Information Office, post on local social media pages and tell whoever we can in person to encourage people to come along and see the spectacle. We post information online and use signage around the event to let spectators know where it is safe for them to watch from.
Offer volunteering opportunities We have a variety of opportunities for people of all backgrounds to get involved in DeeFest. It might be in person on the day, or helping with admin, media and a host of other things that go into making this happen. We particularly like to help youngsters gain experience in a field they wish to work. If you’d like to know more, please get in touch.
Reduce the impacts on traffic and parking Anyone who lives in the area will know that parking is a hot topic! We encourage everyone coming to the area for DeeFest to car share as much as possible, park out of town where possible, to utilise our regular shuttle service. We also use volunteer marshals to help ensure well ordered and courteous parking across any car parks likely to be used. Feedback showed that the majority of event goers were able to park up for the weekend near their accommodation and either use our shuttle or walk to everything we put on. We found that these measures were so effective last year, many locals noted that parking availability was better than an average weekend!
Liaise with local businesses & stakeholders We co-ordinate timings and reduce any potential negative impacts on business, while helping them to use the event as an opportunity where possible.

Care for the environment

As lovers of the Dee Valley, nature and the outdoors, we are keen to promote good practices and encourage stewardship of the environment that we as paddlers call our playgrounds and workplaces.

How do we do that?

Encouraging “check, clean, dry“ To help prevent spread of invasive species, we encourage paddlers to clean their kit before and after the event. There’s a cleaning station available at our Event HQ (Mile End Mill). Paddlers register here at the start of the weekend and it is the site of all events on the Sunday. We invite North Wales Wildlife Trust to have a stand which has had great engagement from paddlers. At Deefest 2023 they offered free kit cleaning packs, which were hugely popular. After connecting at the event, British Canoeing promoted these kits which resulted in them running out of stock after sending hundreds of kits all around the UK.
Reducing bank erosion We use designated access points for events, with pre-event comms, event briefings and volunteer marshalls educating and encouraging paddlers to do so.
Partnerships with relevant organisations There are some fabulous organisations that work to protect the environment in the Dee Valley and further afield. We aim to work with these organisations to promote, educate, fund raise and engage. Please see the partnerships page for more details.
Car shares & shuttles We encourage participants to travel to the event in as few vehicles as possible, then use our shuttle service, walk or paddle up the canal during the weekend.
Environmentally ethical event T-shirts We are proud to use Dewerstone, who are a B Corp certified company, to produce our event T-shirts.
Leave no trace We ensure there’s no litter left behind by providing plenty of bin bags and doing a litter sweep of each area as we leave. All paddlers are encouraged to collect any litter they see throughout the weekend, with spot prizes available for particularly good efforts.
Reusable cups To reduce the use of single use cups, all participants will be given a reusable, branded event cup. A surcharge will be in place for any beverages served without a reusable cup at the Mile End Mill cafe and at the Saturday night party.
Encouraging widespread long-term good practice We want to help paddlers to get into better habits with the issues outlined above, by challenging paddlers to think about their behaviours relating to these issues beyond DeeFest weekend. We are proud to inspire change in individuals, clubs or other event organisers.