Festivalgoers at this year’s Boomtown Fair will have access to an innovative new project designed to keep their camping gear – and the planet – in better shape.
From broken flip flops to deflating air mattresses, summer festivals often come with their fair share of kit casualties. But this year, Boomtown is teaming up with volunteers from Repair Cafés across Hampshire to launch the first-ever Boomtown Repairium – a pop-up repair space dedicated to helping attendees fix their belongings rather than throw them away.
Run by a collective of volunteers from 27 Repair Cafés across Hampshire, the Repairium will offer on-the-spot repairs for camping equipment, clothing, and other items across the five-day festival near Winchester. It’s the first time a repair initiative of this scale has been embedded into a major UK festival – and organisers are keen to see how festivalgoers respond.
“We’re always looking for ways to bring repair to where people are,” said Clare Seek, from Portsmouth Repair Café, one of the project leads. “Boomtown’s commitment to sustainability and the circular economy made it the perfect place to launch the Repairium. With over 65,000 people expected on site, we’ve got a brilliant opportunity to not only support them during the festival but also show them that there are over 700 Repair Cafés across the UK they can use when they get home.”
“When Clare approached us about the idea of hosting a dedicated Repair Café at Boomtown, we jumped at the opportunity,” said Lauren Blackburne-Tinker, Sustainability Manager for Boomtown. “Sustainability is at the heart of our mission, and we’re always seeking ways to share practical, positive knowledge that can create a lasting impact well beyond the five days of the festival. While we’ve seen significant improvements in campsite waste over the past five years, it remains a challenge. That’s why we’ve put several strategies in place to help shift the culture—and the Boomtown Repairium is our latest step in that journey!”
The Repairium team will be ready to help with common festival mishaps – like torn tents, broken chairs, and flat air beds – offering festivalgoers both immediate fixes and practical repair know-how. While the tools may be different from their usual jobs fixing kettles, lamps, and vacuum cleaners, the volunteers are enthusiastic about the challenge.
Amy Sharpe from Chineham Repair Café is joining the team and said, “Having volunteered at a repair café for the last couple of years, my husband and I thought it would be fun to be part of the first Boomtown Repairium. We’re looking forward to seeing what items come in for repair, having the opportunity to spread the word about repair cafés and it’s a bonus to be able to enjoy some of the music too.”
[QUOTE FROM BOOMTOWN if possible.]“One of the biggest barriers to repair is accessibility,” added Clare. “Most people want to keep their things going for longer but often don’t know where to go or how to start. That’s why we do national campaigning for better repair policies, but also why we love meeting people where they are – even if that’s in a field at a music festival. We hope the Repairium will inspire people to see repair as a fun, social, and empowering activity. Who knows – maybe every festival will have a Repairium in the future.”
Festivalgoers can find the Boomtown Repairium in Pepperpot Pass throughout the event.
Image of what the Repairium may look like, generated with the assistance of ChatGPT by OpenAI
