We Invented The Weekend

We Invented the Weekend festival is a massive, free, two-day celebration of all the cool stuff people do in their free time. After a break in 2025, it’s back at Salford Quays and Media City on 6-7 June 2026.

The name refers to the fact that we did, indeed, invent the weekend here in Greater Manchester. Salford Lyceum director and workers’ rights activist Robert Lowes (also Sir Ian McKellen’s Great Great Grandfather) campaigned to win mill workers the right to leisure time on Saturday afternoons.

The festival celebrates this big jump forward in quality of life with a weekend of free music, sport, dance, talks, food and drink, craft-making and live performances, with activities, shows and events for all ages, including lots of family-friendly options.

We Invented the Weekend 2026

Head to MediaCity and Salford Quays for a huge programme of live music, action-packed sports, family fun, theatre, DJ sets, exclusive tours, art workshops, thought-provoking talks, street food, boat trips, wellbeing sessions and more. Most activities will be drop-in and un-ticketed and all will be free.

Highlights include Perfect Pitch, an epic World Cup-inspired performance by English National Opera and Walk the Plank, featuring hundreds of singers from local choirs and football clubs and Play Street, an interactive children’s zone celebrating the history of Salford’s play streets.

Salford legend Peter Hook will be in discussion with Mark Radcliffe, and there’ll be a special appearance from a star of the musical SIX. A brand-new Club Culture programme will celebrate electronic dance music from across the decades, while the main stage will feature headline sets from Afrodeutsche and a live performance by Afriquoi.

Sporty activities including street sports, BMX, yoga and movement sessions, open swimming, football for all ages and abilities, cycling, running and Taekwondo.