Whitby is the highlight of my year. There are concerts for those who want to sit down and be entertained but a lot of the organised festival as well as the fringe is based on participation, dances, sing-arounds, tunes sessions, workshops. There are so many folk legends who are there to share their expertise.
The hills and the spread of events through the town are a problem, it pays to study the programme, mark a 'must' for each day then plan around it. The year I wanted to go to 2 piano accordion workshops which had 10 minutes between them, one on the West Cliff, the other across the harbour was fun. Cliff running / weightlifting and a swung bridge.
And parking is a problem, so the car isn't much help.