Where to enjoy the Mayor’s Thames Festival this weekend

A spectacular harvest festival and a night carnival featuring 2,000 performers in illuminated costumes will be among the highlights at the Mayor's Thames Festival this weekend.

Musicians, dancers and masqueraders will parade with lanterns and flaming torches from Victoria Embankment over Blackfriars Bridge to the National Theatre on Sunday night.

Up to one million people are expected to descend on the area for the two-day event — London's largest free arts festival — which will also feature breakdancers, jive lessons, street theatre and a fireworks display.

For the first time this year, 40 classic boats, including vintage oyster smacks and Thames barges, will moor in St Katharine Docks, with sailors dressed in period costume.

Boris Johnson today urged Londoners to become involved in the "wonderful family event and celebration of the river". He said: "It is a fantastic festival, the biggest event in London this year, and it is free.

"I thoroughly recommend the Feast on the Bridge which is a gigantic medieval binge and the amazing night procession on Sunday."

Fun-packed free weekend: The two-day event kicks off at Embankment. CLICK ON MAP TO ENLARGE

The half-mile long parade will leave Embankment at 7.15pm to arrive at the National Theatre for 9.30pm. The fireworks begin at 9.45pm between Waterloo and Blackfriars bridges.

For the Feast on the Bridge kicking off at noon tomorrow, Southwark Bridge will be closed to traffic. Visitors will have the chance to milk a cow, churn butter or tread grapes to be made into wine.

The Mayor said: "It is our ambition to clean up the river so that by 2020 you will be able to swim. It is wonderful to see a lot more ways of using the river."

A flotilla of working boats, old and new, will sail from Tower Bridge to Westminster Bridge and a barge-pulling race will re-enact the way watermen used to manoeuvre cargo barges on the Thames before the age of steam.

Tomorrow visitors will have the opportunity to hear Flood Tide, a unique musical performance driven by the flow of the Thames. The piece is created by submerging a sensor in the river to convert the tidal flow into musical notes which will be played live by 40 musicians.

To coincide with the festival, in its 12th year, all major river transport operators are offering two-for-one tickets deals all this month.

1 Jubilee gardens
Parkour demonstrations: Sat, Sun. Music and dancing: Sat, Sun.
Flying trapeze: Sat, Sun.

2 Southbank central
African Music Festival: Sat, Sun.

3 BFI Southbank/National Theatre Square
Flute recital — Music of the Spheres: Sat. Interactive projections: Sat, Sun.

4 Bernie Spain GardensPunch and Judy shows: Sat, Sun.
Craft workshops and helter skelter: Sat, Sun.

5 The Gallery@Oxo
Rivers of World exhibition: Sat, Sun.

6 Tate Modern
French fire alchemists Compagnie Carabosse: Sat, Sun. Jazz: Sat, Sun.

7 Southwark Bridge
Feast on the Bridge, food stalls and street theatre: Sat.

8 London Bridge City Pier
Flood Tide musical performance: Sat.
Natural Theatre Company: Sun.

9 Hay's Galleria
Street theatre: Sat, Sun.

10 The Scoop
Korean dance and Taekwondo: Sat, Sun. Children's choir: Sun.

11 Potters Fields Park
Big Swing dance classes: Sat, Sun.
DJ sets: Sat, Sun. Children's workshops: Sat, Sun.

12 St Katharine Docks Classic rally: Sat, Sun.

Details: thamesfestival.org