Gals Who Gig is a group created by Shelby who lives in Cumbria. The aim of the group is to bring women who like to attend live music events together so they don’t have to attend them alone.

The group works like a buddying system. People can advertise the date and location of the event they are planning to go to or would like to attend and people can either connect with others that are going or find someone through the group to go with. Some have organised lift-sharing and others have just met at the gig.

Shelby organises local socials in Cumbria which gives people the opportunity to meet up with others, get to know each other and make plans to attend events together. The Facebook group is private and is vetted and checked. As this is a social group it is only available for women over 18.

Search ‘Gals Who Gig’ on Facebook. You will be asked to join the group and once Shelby has provided access to the group you can start to share and make plans with others. To contact Shelby directly you can message her on ‘Gals Who Gig’ Facebook and Instagram accounts.

Shelby will be joining us at Solfest this year and will arrange get togethers and socials for women who will be attending the festival on their own.

Why can’t I bring an awning for my van this year?
Over the years Solfest has always welcomed campervans with awnings however we have had to review this. In 2021 and 2022 we struggled to get all of our guests parked in the space that we have at Solfest. This was partly due to the amount of space a large number of people took up with their vans and large awnings, sometimes taking up twice the space than necessary. Unfortunately we do not have the space for everyone to have an awning and so we believe the fairest thing to do is discourage you from bringing
them to Solfest. It is common practice for festivals to limit the pitch size for campervans and although we are loath to do this we do feel we have to restrict the amount of awning spaces available to ensure that we can comfortably get everyone on site.

Can I pay for an awning space?
We have a limited number of awning space tickets available for 2023. Keep an eye on our ticketing page and social media accounts as we will post if we make anymore available. We have reduced the cost of Campervan tickets this year by £10.00 to take account of our request that you do not bring your awning unless you have a specific awning ticket.

Why can’t you extend campervan parking into another field?
The fields that Solfest have to put on the festival are limited and because of the landscape we can not use a lot of them for parking as they are too hilly or boggy.

Why has Solfest made these changes this year?
The trend over the last few years has changed. More people have vans with awnings and these are generally bigger than they used to be. A van with an awning can take up 2 reasonable size pitches and so are using twice the space. This reduces the number of vehicles we can get in a field. We just want to reiterate that we are not trying to get more people on site, we are simply trying to use the space well for the numbers that we have to accommodate.

What is Solfest doing to maximize the space that it has?
We have moved things around a little bit this year to make sure we can park everyone who arrives on site comfortably. A map will be available to view on our website soon.

What can I do to help with this issue?
1. Be considerate. We have to fit thousands of people onto the few fields we have for campervans.

2. Only use the space that you need for the weekend. There is so much to do and see in the arena that your van should just be there for convenience to sleep in.

3. Please don’t take up too much space.

4. Please be polite to the traffic stewards and listen to what they are asking you to do and where to park.