Calendar Icon Fri 20 Feb 2026 - Sun 22 Feb 2026
Clock 10:00 - 16:00
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Activity Families Festival Food and Drink Heritage Market Music

About

Sweeten your February with Wakefield’s famous Rhubarb Festival!


Returning for another rhu-tastic year, the festival will features everyone’s favourite Food & Drink Market, where visitors can enjoy everything and anything from cheese, jams and gins to brownies, beer and chocolate – and of course Rhubarb! The market features both local and regional delights and many with a rhubarb twist.


Want to learn how to get the most out the rhubarb you buy? Then why not stop by the Chef Demo’s where the professionals will show you how to make delicious recipes with the Wakefield district’s favourite vegetable!


It wouldn’t be a festival without live music! Head along to the Rhu-Bar and enjoy a well earned drink after all your shopping and hear from local musicians programmed by the Wakefield Music Collective.


Street entertainment from festival favourites Ruby Rhubarb and the Rhubarb Fairy will be livening up the city centre – make sure to go and say hello! There will also be a range of activities for families at WX Wakefield Exchange throughout the weekend including face-painting!


In partnership with Wakefield BID, the Rhubarb Food & Drink Trail is back with another range of incredible local bars, restaurants and cafes serving a variety of limited-edition rhubarb delights!



The Rhubarb Festival is organised by Wakefield Council.


Access facilities

  • Accessible Toilet
  • Assistance Dogs Welcome
  • Step Free Access
  • Wheelchair Accessible

Event sessions

Rhubarb Festival

20th February 2026
10:00 - 17:00
21st February 2026
10:00 - 17:00
22nd February 2026
10:00 - 16:00

Venue Details

Find us at

Wakefield City, Wakefield, WF11HG

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Event Information

Travel

Car Parking

There are numerous off-street and on-street car parking spaces in Wakefield City Centre.

Find a full list with details here.

There is also parking available at Trinity Walk and The Riding Shopping Centre.

Bus

Wakefield Bus Station 

It is an approximately 7 minute walk from Wakefield Bus Station to the Cathedral Precinct.

You can find more information about bus services to Wakefield on the Arriva website here.

Train

Wakefield Westgate Station

It is an approximately 9 minute walk from Wakefield Westgate Train Station to the Cathedral Precinct.

You can find station details here.

Wakefield Kirkgate Station

It is an approximately 11 minute walk from Wakefield Kirkgate Train Station to the Cathedral Precinct.

You can find station details here.

Accessibility

The Events Team at Wakefield Council are passionate about providing an enjoyable experience that is accessible to all.  

There will be staff, security, first aiders and contractors available to offer assistance throughout the event.

You can find them in Hi-Vis or Wakefield Council Uniform, look for ‘EVENT STAFF’ on their backs. 

The closest and most convenient accessible parking to the main festives sites is Trinity Walk Shopping Centre or The Ridings Shopping Centre. 

Trinity Walk WF1 1QQ

1,000 spaces with disabled parking located on the ground floor outside Sainsburys.

The Ridings Shopping CentreWF1 1DS

They have in total over 1,000 spaces, including 43 blue badge holder spaces and 22 family parking bays all with direct access into the centre.

There will be an accessible port-aloo availableL

Bull Ring, Wakefield City Centre WF1 1HD

There are also accessible toilets within:

WX Wakefield Exchange WF1 3AD

The Ridings Shopping Centre WF1 1DS

Trinity Walk Shopping Centre WF1 1QQ

Assistance dogs are welcome to all areas of the Rhubarb Festival

Please note only assistance dogs are welcome in the Chef Demos.

Chef Demos

There will be a BSL interpreter at the first 3 Chef Demos on each day of the festival. Chef Demos are free with no booking required.

See below for the demos that have BSL interpreter:

FRIDAY 20 FEBRUARY

  • 11am: Karen Wright, GBBO Contestant & Author
  • 12pm: Heather Copley, Farmer Copleys
  • 1pm: Jemma Ladwitch & Richard Holmes MBE, Cryer & Stott Cheesemongers Ltd

SATURDAY 21 FEBRUARY

  • 11am: Claire Syrenne, Chef & Writer
  • 12pm: TBC
  • 1pm: Soneeta Bhondi, The Spicy Biker

SUNDAY 22 FEBRUARY

  • 11am: Lianna Inman, Bakes by Vanilla Bean
  • 12pm: TBC
  • 1pm: TBC

BSL Video

We have a BSL video introducting the Rhubarb Festival coming soon.

There are 2 Changing Places Toilets (CPT)  located in Wakefield City Centre:

WX Wakefield Exchange WF1 3AD

Trinity Walk Shopping Centre WF1 1QQ

CPT have more space and the accessible equipment, including a height adjustable changing bench, a peninsular toilet and a celling hoist. You can find out more at https://www.changing-places.org/

Our Rhubarb Festival Easy Read Guide is coming soon.

Please note this event can have busy crowds, particularly close to the Food & Drink Market stalls.

It can also be noisy in the Rhu-Bar and inside the Event Hub in WX Wakefield Exchange.

There are two main sites comprising the Rhubarb Festival: Cathedral Precinct and WX Wakefield Exchange. 

Cathedral Precinct: The precinct is mainly flat and the area can be easily navigated around without having to cross many steps and inclines.  Please note market stalls will be positioned down the cathedral steps. Unfortunately it is not possible for us to provide ramps in this area but the stalls can be accessed by entering each level of the steps from the side.

WX Wakefield Exchange: WX Wakefield has full step-free access from their entrances and a full accessible lift on the ground floor by the main bar. They also have Baby Changing and Changing Places facilities.

If you would like to access Rhubarb Festival website information in another language, please use the Experience Wakefield ReciteMe function.

To do this, click the eye icon in the top right corner of this webpage.

Please note this is not a ticketed event and therefore we cannot confirm what the site capacity will be on the day.

Previous years have shown Friday and Saturday as the busiest days and Sunday being slightly quieter. The crowds generally gather close to the stalls in the Food & Drink Market.

Medical Facilities

Should you need any form of medical attention please inform a member of staff or security onsite where they can show you where the medical tent is located or request for a medic to come to you.  

Unfortunately, we do not have any secure storage for medicines on site.  

Further Questions

We are continually updating event information for the Rhubarb Festival so please keep checking back on this page.  

If you do have any queries or feel that there is anything we can improve on, we are open to suggestions!

You can contact the team at:  festivals@wakefield.gov.uk 

Rhubarb Festival Programme

Rhubarb Festival Ambassador Volunteers

We need friendly, enthusiastic volunteer Ambassadors to support the Events Team over the Rhubarb Festival weekend!

You must be willing to work as part of a team, following instructions and taking initiative as required. Please note this is a very busy event, so you we are looking for people who are comfortable with crowds.

Find Out More

Two people holding rhubarb in fron of The Rhubarb Hut

Chef Demos

Musician performing in the Rhu-Bar

Ruby Rhubarb

Rhubarb

Food and drink market

Rhubarb cocktail

Rhubarb Fairy