Inter Varsity Folk Dance Festival
The Inter Varsity Folk Dance Festival is the longest-running folk festival in the United Kingdom, running annually since 1951.
The festival is organized and hosted by university folk societies, and is held in a different location each year. Former students and folk music enthusiasts gather at the host university for a weekend of music, dance, and song. The festival at Exeter University in 2009 was attended by around 1169 different ticket holders — the most of any IVFDF up to that time, as the previous record was just over 1000 attendees at the IVFDF in Manchester in 1986.
The festival was held online in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, hosted by people based in Bristol. The most recent festival was held in Sheffield, in 2025.
Mascots
Society mascots are considered to be a large part of the festival. Mascot Ransoming is now banned at IVFDF after several people sustained injuries at one festival. While Mascot Ransoming has been banned, mascot intentional misplacement is prevalent at IVFDFs.| Name | Species | University | Organization |
| As Yet & Unnames | Penguins | Sheffield | N/A |
| Cuthbert | Snake | Cambridge | The Round |
| Don | Elephant | Warwick | N/A |
| Duncan | Highland Cow | Durham | N/A |
| Floyd | Pig | Exeter | N/A |
| Hamish | Thistle | Cambridge | Strathspey & Reel Club |
| Nessie | Loch Ness Monster | Edinburgh | N/A |
| Rustle | Ceilidh Monster | N/A | N/A |
| Ducky | Duck | Lancaster | N/A |
| N/A | Goose | York | N/A |
History
The first festival was held in 1951 under the name "Universities' Folk Dancing Festival", hosted in the city of Leeds. The festival was jointly organized by the Hull University College Folk Dance Society and the Leeds University Scottish Dance Society, however, Leeds was chosen over Hull as the location for the festival due to its accessibility and better facilities at the time. The following two festivals were hosted under this name before the term Inter-Varsity was used for the 1954 festival hosted in Edinburgh.Initially, the primary activity at the festival was the "Display Ceilidh", during which the University groups in attendance would take turns to perform dances as a demonstration to the other groups. The dances presented could be newly choreographed or traditional and could be chosen to raise awareness of a particular folk style or show the group's skill. In some early festivals, a dance was also held in the evening after the Display Ceilidh, and by the 1959 festival, this had been expanded to two evening dances.
The festival has never been held in the same host city two years consecutively, with 22 different cities hosting thus far. The most frequent hosts have been Sheffield and Exeter, totaling 11 and 8 festivals, respectively.
| Host city | Number of festivals hosted | Last festival hosted |
| Sheffield | 11 | 2025 |
| Exeter | 8 | 2023 |
| Edinburgh | 7 | 2019 |
| Nottingham | 6 | 2020 |
| Manchester | 5 | 1994 |
| Cambridge | 4 | 2017 |
| Bristol | 3 | 2021 |
| Durham | 3 | 2010 |
| Glasgow | 3 | 2000 |
| Newcastle | 3 | 1990 |
ICBINI
I can't believe it's not IVFDF is a smaller annual spin-off festival held in November. The first ICBINI was held at Exeter in 2002. ICBINI is like the main festival in many respects, in that it is held at a different location each year and hosted by student folk societies; however, if a suitable host cannot be found, a festival is not held that year. The activities are similar to those at IVFDF.| Year | Location | Festival? | Additional |
| 2002 | Exeter | First ICBINI. | |
| 2003 | Bristol | ||
| 2011 | Exeter | ||
| 2012 | Warwick | ||
| 2014 | Warwick | ||
| 2015 | Lancaster | ||
| 2016 | Exeter | ||
| 2017 | Bristol | ||
| 2018 | N/A | - | |
| 2019 | York | ||
| 2020 | N/A | - | Cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic. |