Halo Festival brought a sold-out day to Trinity Park

A festival built from scratch

The festival was the creation of Suffolk tech firm Halo, which set its sights on staging an event of its own nine months earlier. With no previous experience of running festivals, the company built the whole thing from the ground up, driven by a simple ambition: to give something back to the town it calls home.

Halo confirmed the night before the event that tickets were sold out, and what began as an unpredictable venture had, in the space of a single sunny day, become one of the summer's biggest talking points in Ipswich.

Three stages, one big night

Trinity Park was transformed for the occasion, with a Main Stage, the Aspall Suffolk Stage and a DJ tent all running throughout the day. Gates opened at 11:00, with music continuing until 23:00.

The Main Stage carried the day's biggest names, including Natasha Bedingfield, The Vaccines and Scouting for Girls, before Two Door Cinema Club closed out the night. As the sun dipped below the treeline, for a moment it seemed like the crowd, packed shoulder to shoulder across the field, engrossed in the moment, seemed to forget they were still in Ipswich at all.

Away from the Main Stage, the DJ tent took on a different character. Filled with coloured lights, it housed acts including Girls Don't Sync and Conducta, and felt closer in feel to a late-night rave.

While the headline acts drew the biggest crowds, it was the Aspall Suffolk Stage that gave the festival its local heart. Ipswich band Afterdrive, who have already completed their own debut tour, supported Ed Sheeran at Portman Road and played at Latitude, returned to their home turf to perform at the first festival of this calibre in Ipswich. Woodbridge artist Harriet Cree, chosen by public vote, opened proceedings on the stage earlier in the day.

The decision to hand a stage over to Suffolk's own talent gave the day a distinctly local flavour, - accompanied by the Aspall stand offering a range of local ciders - and served as a reminder of just how much homegrown music is coming out of Ipswich.

More than a music festival

Beyond the stages, Trinity Park was home to a village of stalls, stands and community groups, keeping festival-goers busy between sets.

Jimmy's Farm and Wildlife Park set up on site, while a Bear Beer bar tied its custom directly to the cause, running a "Crafted Conservation" promotion in which every round bought was matched by Halo to double its impact on conservation work.

Elsewhere around the site, mental health charity Suffolk Mind, local roastery Combat2Coffee, live music organisation Brighten the Corners and the Ipswich Town Football Club Foundation all had a presence, alongside a separate Ipswich Town merchandise stand for fans wanting to show their colours between acts.

A day built for everyone

Food stalls offered everything from chicken and German sausage stands to sweet treats, catering to a crowd that ranged from young families to groups of friends settling into camping chairs for the afternoon.

What stood out most, though, was the atmosphere. Strangers struck up conversations in the queue for food, laughter carried across the field between sets, and there was a lightness to the day that felt distinct from the usual festival grind of queues and crowd crushes. It was less about the acts on stage, at times, and more about the shared sense that Ipswich finally had a festival of its own.

The bottom line

For a debut, Halo Festival delivered. A headline-worthy line-up, a stage given over entirely to local talent, and a scattering of Suffolk charities and businesses across the site all combined to produce something that felt both ambitious and thoroughly rooted in its home town. Nobody had to leave Ipswich to find a big day out, and for one Saturday in July, the town gave itself plenty to be proud of. If this was Halo's warm-up act, Ipswich should probably start clearing its diary for next year.

Don't forget: If you enjoy our content, please add Ipswich.co.uk as a "preferred source" on Google so you can easily find more of the content you value.

This article cost us ~£186 to produce

It's free for you to read thanks to the generous support of our partners. Please support us by supporting them.