Thousands Arrive As Isle Of Wight Festival Buzz Builds Across Wightlink Routes

The Isle of Wight Festival is officially underway, with thousands of music fans making the journey across the Solent as the Island prepares for one of its busiest weekends of the year.

Wightlink says there has been a "fantastic atmosphere" across its ports and on board its ferries as festival-goers arrive for the four-day event at Seaclose Park.

To help meet increased demand, the ferry operator is running an additional 86 sailings throughout the festival period.

Traffic levels are expected to match or even exceed last year's figures, when more than 27,000 vehicles and 36,000 foot passengers travelled to the Isle of Wight over the course of the event.

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/d5b2d7_dce6d603165a416fbe9cbd91694228ea/1080p/mp4/file.mp4

Behind the scenes, Wightlink has also been transporting the infrastructure needed to bring the festival to life, including around 3,000 individual pieces of equipment and 30 fairground loads.

Katy Taylor, Chief Executive of Wightlink, said:

"The Isle of Wight Festival is one of the highlights of our year and we are proud to play our part in bringing people together for such an iconic event.

"Our teams love being part of it, and there has been a fantastic atmosphere as we help give festival-goers a great start to their weekend.

"There has been a real buzz across our routes today as the Island welcomes thousands of visitors for the weekend, with entertainment on board and at ports adding to the festival feel."

With campsites filling up and festival wristbands being collected throughout the day, excitement is continuing to build ahead of a packed weekend of music featuring Lewis Capaldi, The Cure and Calvin Harris.