Extravaganza of FREE family fun comes to Manchester with One Big Summer Weekend

An extravaganza of FREE family fun will kick-start the school summer holidays in Manchester’s One Big Summer Weekend.

There will be music, dancing, science and a giant picnic as families are invited to enjoy all that the city centre has to offer.

The Co-op sponsored annual picnic will come together with Manchester Jazz Festival, Science in the City and Manchester Specialist Markets for the family friendly weekend from Friday, July 22 to Sunday, July 24.

As part of the fun The Whitworth will be on hand running Art Picnics, helping families get crafty using their art hampers – picnic hampers filled with art materials and ideas.

And a storytelling igloo with teepees, blankets, teddy bears and bunting will be the setting outside Manchester Cathedral as the much loved children’s story We’re Going On A Bear Hunt is brought to life through drama, dance and poetry.

Manchester’s Business Improvement District is bringing together the best of Manchester’s summer festivals to welcome families into the city’s retail core.

Events will predominantly take place across four of the city’s main streets - Exchange Square will host The Manchester Picnic, Manchester Jazz Festival will take residence on New Cathedral Street, Science in the City will present its Allotment of the Future in St Ann’s Square while Summer Crafts in the City will be on offer on Market Street courtesy of Manchester Specialist Markets.

On the Saturday and Sunday, Exchange Court in the Manchester Arndale will be transformed into an exciting setting for live experiments as part of Science in the City’s additional weekend activity.

For the first time Pi: Platform for Investigation leaves the Museum of Science and Industry to bring the thrilling experience of impossibly small science on to the streets of Manchester.

Visitors will also get a chance to explore how Manchester scientists produced graphene, the world’s first 2D material, and have a try themselves.

Then on the Sunday, Z-arts, in partnership with Manchester Cathedral, will be bringing Michael Rosen’s We’re Going On A Bear Hunt to life through a creative mix of storytelling, arts and crafts and a teddy bears picnic in the cathedral’s beautiful grounds.

Visitors can listen to stories, join the bear hunt, enjoy a teddy bears picnic and get crafty all for free.

Hulme-based Z-arts will be curating the storytelling and creative activities including making your own bear ears and tails, bow ties and masks. All families need to take is their favourite teddy bear and a sense of adventure.