Light It Up at the Ignite Fire Festival this Weekend

This weekend Rochdale is about to light up the sky, literally, for Ignite Fire Festival 2025.

Things kick off on Friday with some of our Skylight participants joining the walk through the newly reopened Broadfield Slopes. More than one hundred local people will take part and walk the planks together. It is a beautiful celebration of place, creativity, community and of course, plenty of fire.

Saturday and Sunday | 5 – 8pm | Rochdale Town Hall Square

Saturday and Sunday are packed with fiery magic. Think fire performers, glowing sculptures, Drum Machine shaking the town and even a visit from Father Christmas himself on Sunday.

Skylight’s Fire Performances | 6 – 7pm | Main Stage

“It’s been so fun making the routine and now we get to perform it at the Fire Festival, we want to do more!!”

Spotlight Youth Participant 

We’re so proud of every performer. The courage, the skill, the commitment and the willingness to push themselves out of their comfort zones is inspiring. They’re more ready than ever and this is one you definitely don’t want to miss.

Voices From Our Fireflies

To give you a little glimpse into the journey, here are a few words from our adult beginners who’ve been training with us for the festival. These quotes say everything about what makes community fire arts so special.

I have also learned another skill, I joined the compere workshop to get a new skill expecting there would be enough people interested I wouldn’t be actually needed yet here I am one of the compere’s for the fantastic Embers and Sparks and I got to use my crafting skills to add Embers and Sparks to our compere outfits.
It has been a brilliant experience and I have met some lovely new people. Some to learn from and some to perform with. I can’t wait to knock everyone’s socks off at the festival.”

Louisa – Adult Fireflies Participant: 

“As a single parent, life can feel like a constant balancing act – working full-time, keeping the household running, and making sure my daughter gets to her Skylight sessions twice a week. There’s rarely a moment to spare, and after some recent health challenges, I found myself stuck in a rut.

Then one day, I saw Skylight looking for volunteers to try fire-spinning. My first thought? Why not! It sounded exciting, something completely different from my usual routine.

Joining the rehearsals has been an absolute blast – learning new skills, meeting amazing people, and stepping outside my comfort zone. It’s given me a much-needed distraction and, more importantly, something that’s just for me.

Sometimes, saying “yes” to something unexpected can spark a little joy when you need it most.”

Jade, Adult Fireflies Participant:

“It’s been illuminating to say the least: It’s been such a pleasure to make the acquaintance of like-minded people from such a varied walk of life. It’s lit a fire within me to keep enjoying my circus hijinks and that’s very much connected to the warm and light-hearted tutelage of Dan and Shona.

They have lit up my evenings and given me such a fun-filled creative and vibrant activity and I, and I’m sure everyone else here, would agree that they have been nothing short of radiant.”

Partnerships and Thanks

Our Fireflies project’s been made possible through our wonderful partnership with Culture Co Op, who have supported Skylight in bringing fire performance and workshops to the Rochdale community. Huge thanks to Greg and the whole Culture Coop team.

A special thank you also goes to Dan and Shona from Travelling Light Circus. Not only are they professional fire performers dazzling the crowds this weekend, they’re also incredible teachers who’ve brought so much experience, encouragement and fiery magic to our Skylight family.

Our Spotlight youth rehearsals and programme have been made possible with thanks to the generous support from The Foyle Foundation.