How to Create a Tipi Festival Stage: Come Bye Festival in South Wales
For the last four summers, we’ve had the honour of being a part of the crew for the small but mighty Come Bye festival, just outside Abergavenny in South Wales. Come Bye are one of the first festival crews we built ties with when Mikata was founded, and we’re proud to say that we’ve remained their go-to festival tipi providers ever since. We’ve also become close friends with many of the crew, and look forward to attending the festival ourselves every year, which closes out the festival season in mid-September at the idyllic Three Pools permaculture farm and venue.
How We Collaborated With the Team to Create a Tipi Festival Stage
Since the beginning of our relationship with Come Bye, we’ve been allowed a large amount of input into how our area is put together and run over the course of the weekend. Our tipi sits in a prime location within the site, downhill from the cluster of rugged but inviting farm buildings which comprise the core of the festival, beside a small lake surrounded by lush greenery (and home to the occasional savage goose).
Our outdoor stage hosts a healthy mix of performances during the day, beginning with DJ sets from our own resident selectors as well as Come Bye’s hand-picked talent. As the day progresses these acts give way to more live and interactive spectacles, with the main attraction being the legendary Miss Come Bye pageant, a raucous feast of silliness which sees the tipi transformed into a fashion runway and a crowd of several hundred gathered on the hillside as assorted guys, dolls and extraterrestrial beings strut their stuff.
Once the party’s moved inside for the night, the Giant Tipi is repurposed as a chill-out area for weary ravers. The runway is packed away, the lights are dimmed and our collection of soft furnishings - including sofas, bean bags and even hammocks - are brought in.
Creating Perfect Festival Tipi Decor and Staging
A single festival tipi hosting such a variety of entertainment has to pack a lot in, but we always make sure to keep the vibe as cosy and intimate as we possibly can, while still providing a view of the stunning South Wales countryside we’re nestled in. The sides of the tipi are half raised to allow the festivities to spill out on to the grass and let the evening sun in, while the inside of the tipi is decked out in our signature foliage and colourful fabrics.
The centrepieces are two installations that our team custom-made for our first Come Bye festival: our bamboo UFO, which is suspended from the top of the tipi (often seen abducting our mascot Lucy the cow), and our tractor-shaped DJ booth. These pieces were made to fit with that year’s “unidentified farming object” theme, but we liked them so much they’ve returned every year since in one guise or another - modifications have included a smoke machine built into the tractor booth so its “exhaust pipe” blasts out dry ice at particularly rowdy moments!
We’ve had a blast every single year creating our own special party haven at Come Bye, and we cannot wait to return this year for what will hopefully be the best one yet - watch this space!
If you would like to enquire about tipi hire in South Wales or tipi hire for your festival stage, please check out the links below to see how one of our packages could work for you, or feel free to drop us a line for a chat!