Sea festivals in Le Crotoy and Saint-Valery, concerts at Les Grèves Musicales, floating gardens in Amiens: what's on August 1-2 in Northern France.
The first weekend of August marks a shift in Northern France. July's big line-ups have packed up, and the high-summer regulars take over. Our pick goes to Les Grèves Musicales: two days of concerts staged on a farm on the Aisne plateau, Saturday August 1 and Sunday August 2. On the coast, two Somme Bay towns bless their boats on the very same weekend. Here are ten ways to fill those two days, from the Picardy shoreline to the hills of French Flanders.
Les Grèves Musicales in Saint-Eugène (02): two days of concerts on a working farm
On Saturday August 1 and Sunday August 2, the Ferme des Grèves hosts the only contemporary-music festival in this selection that lands squarely on the weekend. The site sits in Saint-Eugène, on the plateau between Chierry and Courboin, with a second address at Les Maisons Maquets in Rozoy-Bellevalle. Two stages share a line-up of rock, folk, punk and French chanson. The event started in 2018, driven by the association La Punkaravane. From 2019, the association Les Grèves Musicales, chaired by Raphaël Mammar, took over. An eco-conscious approach has been part of the project from the start. Les Grèves Musicales remains one of the few festivals in southern Aisne to have gone the distance.
Fête de la Mer in Le Crotoy (80): costumed procession and fireworks over the bay
Le Crotoy celebrates the sea on August 1 and 2, on Place Jeanne d'Arc. The local association of sailors and former sailors organises this maritime festival every summer in the seaside resort. On the programme: a procession in traditional dress, a blessing of the boats out at sea, fireworks and popular festivities. The event draws the local community as much as holidaymakers passing through the Somme Bay. People come for the ritual, the music and the outline of moored boats. The Fête de la Mer du Crotoy happens outdoors, paced by processions and tides.
Saint-Valery-sur-Somme (80): the Courtgain quarter honours its lost sailors
The weekend's second maritime celebration in the Somme Bay, Saint-Valery-sur-Somme's festival also runs on August 1 and 2. It takes place in the Courtgain, the old fishermen's quarter facing the Somme estuary. The day honours the memory of sailors lost at sea and keeps the quarter's traditions alive. Processions, boat blessings, sea shanty concerts and a village dance fill the two days. The Fête de la Mer de Saint-Valery-sur-Somme mixes remembrance with warmth. Doing both towns on one weekend gives a rare reading of Picardy's maritime culture.
Les Estivales Musicales de Hardelot (62): free open-air music every Saturday night
Every Saturday in summer, Place de la Concorde in Neufchâtel-Hardelot hosts a free concert at 6.30pm. The Saturday August 1 date belongs to a run that continues through August 29. The programming moves between pop-rock, French variety, world music, blues and tribute bands. NH Famille Sport Nature runs these evenings, which bring together families, holidaymakers and locals in a relaxed setting. No box office, no booking: you sit down and listen. Les Estivales Musicales de Hardelot have become part of the resort's summer routine.
Festival d'Hardelot (62): classical music and jazz in an Elizabethan theatre
Same town, entirely different register. The Festival d'Hardelot runs its classical and jazz concerts from July 21 to August 9. The weekend of August 1-2 therefore sits right in the middle of the programme. Performances take place in notable venues around Neufchâtel-Hardelot: the Hôtel du Parc, Saint-Augustin church and an Elizabethan theatre, a rare setup in France. The festival has passed its 45th edition, making it one of the oldest on the Opal Coast. The contrast with the free evenings on Place de la Concorde sums up summer in Hardelot rather neatly.
Juliette et les Misérables in Montreuil-sur-Mer (62): the final nights before August 3
The show closes on August 3. The weekend of August 1-2 is therefore the last real window to catch it this year. Since 1996, the Citadel of Montreuil-sur-Mer has hosted a sound-and-light show inspired by Les Misérables, a novel partly set in the town. The format was fully reworked in 2023 under the title Juliette et les Misérables. It stages the relationship between Victor Hugo and Juliette Drouet, his mistress and the novel's first reader. A local association produces the show, performed outdoors inside the fortified walls.
The Dragon of Calais (62): fifteen metres of steel and wood breathing fire
The machine built by François Delarozière and Compagnie La Machine runs all year, the August 1 weekend included. More than 15 metres long, it has roamed Avenue Winston Churchill and the Calais seafront since its inaugural show in November 2019. Fire, smoke, water: the beast impresses, even people who have already crossed its path. Compagnie du Dragon, a subsidiary of SPL Grand Calais Tourisme et Culture, operates the rides on the creature's back. The Dragon of Calais has become the town's flagship attraction, and a solid reason to push on to the Channel.
International Garden Festival in the Amiens Hortillonnages (80): art set on floating gardens
Since 2010, the hortillonnages of Amiens have turned into an open-air museum each summer. Around fifty contemporary works, gardens, installations and in-situ pieces, blend into the landscape of these floating gardens shaped by hand since antiquity. The trail stays open through October 11, with a starting point at 56 rue du Vivier. The weekend of August 1-2 falls mid-season, when the planting is at its fullest. The International Garden Festival offers a setting no other French region can match.
Beauvais, The Infinite Cathedral (60): thirty free minutes on the world's tallest choir
After dark, the façades of Saint-Pierre cathedral become a screen. The sound-and-light show designed by the Skertzo agency tells the unfinished story of this daring building, home to the tallest Gothic choir in the world. The narration, poetic and musical, lasts about thirty minutes. The projection is free, takes place on the forecourt and runs through September 26. Beauvais, The Infinite Cathedral suits all ages and slots easily into the end of a day spent in the Oise.
Artpenteurs across French Flanders (59): land art between Steenvoorde and Bailleul
Created in 2024 by Cœur de Flandre Agglo, this contemporary art trail unfolds outdoors from June into autumn. Around ten monumental, short-lived works by land art specialists take their place in striking natural sites across French Flanders. The route links Steenvoorde to Bailleul and stays open through October 31. The weekend of August 1-2 leaves plenty of time to walk from one piece to the next. Artpenteurs pairs hiking with contemporary art, a formula still uncommon in the region.
Worth a mention too
- Video Mapping Festival (59): the night-time video mapping trail across the monuments of central Lille and the old town continues through October 31.
- lille3000 Fiesta (59): the 7th themed season from lille3000 feeds the metropolitan area with exhibitions, shows and parades through September 27.
- Chés Wèpes (80): the travelling festival of Picard culture carries storytelling, songs and traditional games around the Somme Bay through August 31.
Curious about what's on elsewhere this weekend? Our weekend agenda covers every French region, week after week. Between the two sea festivals of the Somme Bay and the guitars of the Aisne plateau, August 1-2 sums up Northern France well: the coast, the countryside, and very few kilometres between them.
