At The Pearly Kings & Queens Harvest Festival

Click here to book Today we preview the annual Pearly Kings & Queens’ Harvest Festival, gathering in Guildhall Yard this Sunday 20th September at 1:30pm followed by a service at St Mary-le-Bow in Cheapside On the last Sunday afternoon in September, the Pearly Kings & Queens come together from every borough of London and gather in the square outside the Guildhall in the City of London for a lively celebration to mark the changing of the seasons. On my visit, there was Maypole dancing and Morris Dancing, there was a pipe band and a marching band, there were mayors and dignitaries in red robes and gold chains, there were people from Rochester in Dickensian costume, there were donkeys with carts and veteran cars, and there was even an old hobby horse leaping around – yet all these idiosyncratic elements successfully blended to create an event with its own strange poetry. In fact, the participants outnumbered the audience and a curiously small town atmosphere prevailed, allowing the proud…