Important Update for Feast Celebrations 2027 – Change of Venue

The Concert Hall at St Ives Guildhall is undergoing a significant renovation and works to the forecourt and front entrance have now started. These are key locations for feast day and return of the silver ball, so it will not be possible to follow our usual arrangements and ensure the event is safe and disruption-free for the public. For Monday 8th February 2027, there will, therefore, be a change of venue for those parts of the event which normally happen at the Guildhall. (Arrangements for Sunday 8th will be the same as for previous years).

As Feast is so strongly linked to St Ia church – and a celebration of its dedication in 1434- it was felt that the church building makes a fitting temporary home for 2026.

Rev. Nick Widdows has kindly agreed to make St Ia Church available as usual for the traditional civic service on Sunday 8th February and for all parts of the event on Monday 8th February. We are very grateful for their kind assistance, which means our valued local tradition can still take place in 2026. Please see the Programme of Events below for further details of timings and locations for each aspect of the day.

2027 Feast Celebrations

The St Ives Feast is an ancient tradition that celebrates the consecration of the Parish Church of St Eia in 1434 and offers a rare chance to watch the game of Hurling the Silver Ball, a centuries’ old form of rugby.

On the Monday, each year a civic procession including musicians and schoolchildren make their way through the town’s narrow, cobbled alleyways wearing pieces of ivy in remembrance of St Eia, the patron saint of St Ives (who is believed to have crossed the sea from Ireland on a boat made of ivy) to Venton Ia, the well of St Ia. The parish priest then blesses the ball, made of sterling silver, hammered into two hemispheres, bound around a core of applewood and held together with a silver band. After the blessing, the procession returns to St Ia Parish Church yard for the main event, the Hurling of the Silver Ball, which is one of Cornwall’s oldest customs.

At around 10.30am, the Mayor of St Ives will hurl the ball into the crowd whilst shouting guare wheg ya guare teg (fair play is good play in Cornish). The game, also known as Cornish Hurling, dates back at least one thousand years, and originally involved physical rough and tumble as two teams from different parts of the parish tried to keep possession of the ball.  At modern day feast, the game is played by played by children and teenagers, who run around the town and try to keep possession of the ball.  Normally, the procession slowly returns to the Guildhall, however in 2026, it will return to St Ia Parish Church. The Councillors distribute pennies to the children in the crowd, and wait for the clock to strike noon, at which point the child with the ball returns to collect their reward from the Mayor.

Alongside the days events, the Edward Hain Centre will be hosting a coffee morning, 10am until 12.30pm at The Western Hotel.

* Road Closure: To allow for safe movement of the Feast procession between The Guildhall, St Ia Well and St Ia Church the following roads will be closed between 9:00 and 11:00 on Monday 8th February 2026 TBC

Street-an-Pol; Tregenna Place; High Street; Lifeboat Hill; Wharf Road; Fore Street; The Digey; Porthmeor Hill

The closure will be delivered by Gull Rock Events Limited alongside trained St Ives Town Council Staff and will be managed in such a way as to minimise disruption to the town wherever possible. The maximum length of the closure will be 2 hours.

Winners
2024 Sienna Boughton
2023 Oscar Warmsley

Excerpt from 1974 Borough of St Ives booklet – Feast Day

Videos of Feast Day on our Youtube Channel and below:
1977 – BFI
1991 – Cornish Pasty Man
2011 – St Ives TV
2013 – St Ives TV
2015- St Ives TV
2016 – St Ives TV
2017 – St Ives TV

Images courtesy of St Ives Times & Echo, Nick Pumphrey, Nik Read, Tobi Carver St Ives Times & Echo, Greg Martin-Cornwall Live