From the opening of the Amiens comics festival to the century-old Rose Festival in Gerberoy, eleven outings for the June 6-7 weekend mixing graphic novels, music and tradition.
The weekend of June 6-7 is a turning point across Northern France: several spring festivals take their final bow just as others barely open. In Beauvais, the cello plays its last night on Sunday; in Amiens, comics storm the Halle Freyssinet on Saturday. Our pick of the week is the Gerberoy Rose Festival, a century-old ritual that lasts a single Sunday a year and turns one of France's most beautiful villages into a giant garden. Here are eleven ideas to plan your Saturday and Sunday by mood, from the Boulogne seafront to the slag heaps of the former mining basin.
Beauvais International Cello Festival (60): the grand finale on Sunday night
The Beauvais International Cello Festival closes on Sunday June 7, ending ten days devoted entirely to the instrument, a case unique in France. The weekend gathers the edition's last big evenings: solo recitals, chamber music and a symphonic closing concert. Saint-Pierre Cathedral, the Théâtre du Beauvaisis and the Rostropovitch Auditorium share the bill. Born in 1992, the festival lines up around twenty events and pairs international names with young bows spotted in the conservatoires. Several free appointments punctuate the day before the major evening line-ups. This is the moment to catch the festival before it goes dark for a year, in acoustic settings rarely brought together elsewhere.
Amiens Comics Festival (80): the ninth art opens Saturday at the Halle Freyssinet
The Amiens Comics Festival launches its big opening weekend on Saturday June 6 at the Halle Freyssinet. Run since 1996 by the On a Marché sur la Bulle association, this free festival devoted to comics welcomes hundreds of authors for signing sessions, exhibitions and talks. It is one of the oldest comics gatherings in northern France, and one of the warmest: you will meet graphic-novel heavyweights alongside young self-published artists. Signing queues form early, but the format stays accessible and family-friendly. Combine it with a stop in the Saint-Leu district and its canals, just around the corner.
Video Mapping Festival in Lille (59): a nocturnal trail across the facades
The Video Mapping Festival continues its trail through the city centre and Vieux-Lille. Run by the Rencontres Audiovisuelles association, this international gathering of digital arts projects mapping creations onto the city's heritage facades once night falls. The route is free, self-guided, and walked at your own pace between the Grand'Place, the belfry and the cobbled streets. Works are signed by collectives from across Europe, and an international competition crowns the best proposals. It is an excellent entry point into digital arts for anyone who has never seen such a show. Bring good shoes and aim for nightfall, which comes late in early June.
Festival des Gohelliades in Loos-en-Gohelle (62): traditional fair under the slag heaps
In Loos-en-Gohelle, a pioneering town for sustainable development at the foot of Europe's tallest slag heaps, the Gohelliades reach their final weekend on Sunday June 7, around Pentecost. Created in 1984 in the wake of Marcel Caron, this popular festival showcases the savoir-faire of the former mining basin: musical shows, parade, craftsmen's fair, guided visits to the UNESCO-listed slag heaps. The traditional ducasse, with its funfair, giant communal meals and public balls, remains the centrepiece. It is a deep dive into a working-class heritage culture with no equivalent elsewhere in France. A perfect family outing that blends village festivity with the reading of a reinvented post-industrial territory.
Festival Wazemmes l'Accordéon in Lille (59): final day of celebration on Saturday
Also in Lille, the Festival Wazemmes l'Accordéon wraps up a full month of music on Saturday June 6 in the popular district of the same name. Since 1992, the Flonflons association has celebrated the accordion in every guise: musette, jazz, gypsy swing, punk, world music. For this last day, gigs in bars, public balls, street shows and the famous Village W turn Wazemmes into a huge open-air stage. Most events are free and the vibe follows the district's multicultural sociology. Around the Wazemmes covered market and Rue des Sarrazins is the right place to close the festival in style. Tie it in with a tasty stop at the Halle de Wazemmes.
International Garden Festival at the Amiens Hortillonnages (80): open-air museum on the water
The International Garden Festival turns the Amiens hortillonnages into a contemporary art trail until October 11. About fifty gardens, installations and site-specific works integrate into this landscape of floating gardens shaped since antiquity. Visits happen on foot, by traditional cornet boat or by canoe, and each mode changes your relation to the works and to the landscape. In early June, the year's creations are freshly installed and the vegetation is bursting, just before the summer crowds. The Maison de la Culture d'Amiens curates an international selection that engages with ecological stakes. The comics-festival weekend lets you chain both in a single day in Amiens.
Latitudes Contemporaines in Lille (59): contemporary creation in full launch
The Latitudes Contemporaines festival begins its first full weekend, June 6-7, after opening on the 4th. Founded in 2003, this international creation festival brings together dance, theatre, performance and hybrid forms for three weeks across the Lille metropolitan venues. It is a genuine laboratory of the current stage, supporting emerging artists and presenting work often seen nowhere else in the region. Audiences come curious, ready to be surprised by radical stage writing. The opening evenings set the tone for the edition. A sharp alternative for anyone wanting something other than the classical repertoire this weekend.
Festival Jean de La Fontaine in Château-Thierry (02): music and theatre in the fabulist's hometown
In Château-Thierry, the birthplace of Jean de La Fontaine, the Festival Jean de La Fontaine plays its penultimate weekend before closing on June 13. Founded in 1991, this cross-disciplinary event blends vocal and instrumental music, theatre, dance and literary talks in the most beautiful sites of southern Aisne: the Jean de La Fontaine museum, the medieval castle, nearby churches and abbeys. The programming brings the fabulist's work to life as much as it charms music lovers. Small capacities in heritage venues, accessible prices, a hushed atmosphere far from the big halls. The June 6-7 weekend offers several concerts in unexpected settings, to pair with a stroll along the banks of the Marne.
Team For Ocean Festival in Boulogne-sur-Mer (62): two days for the ocean by the sea
On the esplanade of Nausicaá, the Team For Ocean Festival runs on June 5 and 6, Saturday included. Free and organised by Europe's largest aquarium, it devotes two days to action for the ocean: creative workshops, scientific experiments, games, sport and concerts. Researchers, associations and artists meet a family audience around marine biodiversity. It is a format halfway between a festival, a science fair and a campaigning event, ideal with children and perfectly timed to enjoy the Boulogne seafront. Combine it with a visit to Nausicaá or a climb to the fortified old town. A discreet but committed gem of this June weekend.
Gerberoy Rose Festival (60): one Sunday, one village, thousands of roses
On Sunday June 7, the Gerberoy Rose Festival celebrates the roses in bloom, every first Sunday of June, in one of France's most beautiful villages. Created in 1928 by post-impressionist painter Henri Le Sidaner, who designed the village gardens, this century-old tradition turns Gerberoy into a huge open-air garden. Rose growers, nurserymen, artists and craftspeople set up in the cobbled lanes while the half-timbered facades vanish under climbing roses. It is a one-day event, rare and photogenic, drawing garden lovers and casual strollers alike. Come early, parking fills up fast. Our pick of the weekend, halfway between a traditional festival and a horticultural pilgrimage.
Artpenteurs in Flanders (59): land art in open country, the trail's first season
Launched in 2024 by Cœur de Flandre Agglo, Artpenteurs opens its season on June 1: an open-air contemporary art trail unfolding until autumn across the landscapes of French Flanders, from Steenvoorde to Bailleul. About ten monumental, ephemeral works by land-art artists are placed on the hills and remarkable natural sites. The walk is done on foot or by bike, map in hand, following the viewpoints over the Flemish plain. In early June, the installations have just been unveiled and the trail is still fresh. An off-the-beaten-track outing blending gentle hiking, contemporary art and the discovery of a little-known rural territory.
Worth a mention too
- Guitares en Picardie (02): a free, itinerant gathering around classical, flamenco and jazz guitar, with concerts in the churches and village halls of the Aisne, including Saint-Gobain.
- Les Rencontres Musicales de Cambrai (59): chamber music and symphonic concerts in the art deco theatre and heritage venues of the Cambrésis, directed by Jean-Pierre Wiart.
- Bains de Forêt Musicaux (60): guided walks in the Compiègne forest, forest bathing and classical music in the undergrowth, small capacity and booking advised.
For a broader sweep across other regions, head to our full weekend agenda. Enjoy your Hauts-de-France weekend.
