All you need to know about Connected Festival at Lydd Airport
Published: 10:26, 01 October 2019
Updated: 11:20, 01 October 2019
Work has begun to transform a Kent airport into a venue fit to host a massive overnight rave.
Two tents - including a big top - have been erected at Lydd Airport, on Romney Marsh, ahead of this weekend's debut Connected Festival.
Flooring is also being laid, structures for the medical centre and bars are being put together and teams are working around the clock to clear the site.
And they only have five days left to complete the work, as thousands of people will descend on the venue for the overnight party which starts at 6pm on Saturday and will include 12 hours of drum and bass, garage, house and dance music, with revellers partying until 6am.
More than 100 acts, including Andy C, Wilkinson, DJ Hazard, Kings of the Rollers, Problem Central, Heartless Crew, will play across five stages, which includes the Connected main stage, Breakin Science stage and #RCFF stage.
For the full line up, visit here.
Performers, such as fire eaters, break dancers, stilt walkers and 'mirror man', who will fire up lasers, will take to the stages and weave among crowds throughout the night.
A big cinema screen, playing footage from festivals past, food stalls, toilets and a bar will also be set up.
Rohan Mulvaney, one of the organisers, said: "The teams are working hard to ensure this event infrastructure is built on time and to design.
"It's absolutely amazing to see a small town being built on a design that was only a dream 10 months ago.
"The site clearance took a week in total as we needed to work around the live airport operations.
"We cleared 300 tonnes of rubble to another part of the site to clear way for tent one and tent two, which will host the Connected stage and Garage Nation stage.
"Once this was cleared we fenced off our controlled area allowing us to bring in the plant and machines to drill the 300 plus core holes to pin down the big top structures, medical centre and central main bar structures.
"This again took almost a week and even more difficult to work within the stormy period over last weekend. Gusting winds up to 60mph really tested the infrastructure."
Mr Mulvaney, from Dymchurch, has organised the festival alongside Martin Hackney and James Tovey.
He adds: "I'm feeling exhausted but I’m proud of the team made up from the local community, service providers and friends who are making this dream a reality.
"There is serious entertainment planned as we embark on our final week and set out our platform for what will be the biggest dance music festival in the south."
Connected Festival was first announced in July and now people from all over the UK are planned to attend the rave.
Mr Mulvaney said: "It’s always difficult to predict the final numbers on the night as we know these events can have a very last minute decision to attend from the customer - however we are well on plan with our sales and have fantastic demographic with customers from all over the UK."
Over the last few weeks, two other Kent festivals have been cancelled - Southbeats based in Sevenoaks and the Broadstairs festival Wheels and Fins.
The airport will not be operation during the festival, but the coastguard will remain operational for emergency purposes.
To buy tickets, standard or VIP, visit here.
For everything you need to know about Connected Festival, visit here.
Read more: All the latest news from Romney Marsh
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Sam Williams