After looking at the campsite (see above) Steve Harris estimated that attendances were 75% down on normal.

Can a festival that loses three-quarters of its audience in just one year really survive for much longer?

After looking at this thread it would seem that those who did still attend Sidmouth 2005 enjoyed the experience but they were far fewer in numbers than in previous years.

I suspect it's the 'hardcore' Sidmouth veterans who post on here and so it's no surprise when they praise this year's event.

Those of us 'guests' who only post occasionally and therefore can't be bothered to register as full-blown 'mudcatters' may have a less 'rose-tinted-spectacles' view of things.

Overall I guess that:

i) Sidmouth WILL survive but as a much smaller event than in the past, just one of many small-scale folk festivals in an already overcrowded calendar

ii) Those who attended this year may well return in 2006

iii) Many of those who attended are actually quite happy to have a smaller, less commercialised Sidmouth Folk Week, but...

iv) There is nothing to mark Sidmouth out from the crowd now. It can no longer boast of being Europe's biggest folk festival... or even Britain's... or even the South West's. It is just a small-scale Folk Week now and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that if those who still go enjoy it.

Personally though I miss the international element, the arena shows and the variety that was Sidmouth in the past. That is why I didn't attend this year and, with a heavy heart, will not be returning in the future.