Tuesday 19-05-2026 - 10:36

       Written by Rory O'Ceallaigh

       Rory is the 2025/26 LUSU President.

 

From the moment the quiet period ends on Friday 19th June, campus will turn into a two-day festival venue and you’re not going to want to miss it! 

 

Extravs – short for Extravaganzas – have been a long-standing tradition at Lancaster spanning at least 30 years. At Lancaster, JCRs have historically run the end of year festivals, commonly run as a central “Summer Ball” type of event in other universities, marking us as a little different from our peers but ultimately making that celebration of the end of the year a far bigger deal. Since the pandemic, financial constraints have meant they couldn’t run, but your JCRs with LUSU, the Colleges, and University Retail have been working hard to begin to bring them back. 

 

Each Extrav will have live music and its own theme (due to be revealed soon 👀) meaning they’ll be distinct from each other, so it’s worth making your way round campus to see what’s on in each college. There’s one thing they will all definitely deliver though – a party atmosphere and campus wide festival feel!  

 

Importantly, each College event will be FREE to attend, so there’s nothing stopping you from taking in the full campus experience! 

 

So, what’s on and when? 

• Friday 19th June evening: Furness, Fylde, Grizedale, Pendle 
• Friday 19th June night: The Sugarhouse Extravs Opening Night (ticketed) 
• Saturday 20th June evening: Bowland & Cartmel (collaboration in Barkers), County 
• Saturday 20th June night: Extravs Closing Party in the Great Hall (ticketed) 

 

You might have some questions – firstly, what are the themes?? I’m afraid these are top secret for now, but I’m sure you will find out soon! 

 

Secondly, those of you who remember Extravs of old will be thinking this looks quite different to how they used to run – you would be right! Having had a few years off, we’re building these events back from the ground up which has allowed us to do things differently. The dates are far sooner to the end of the quiet period (practically tripping over it), the events themselves will be earlier in the days, around 6-10pm, followed by bigger parties in Sugar and the Great Hall respectively, and the college events will be smaller scale to allow them to be free. This is a year of experimentation, what works will be carried forward, what doesn’t won’t, and we hope that they’ll be able to grow year on year back to their once lofty heights! 

 

What about Lonnie and Grad?  

• Lonsdale is doing their own ticketed formal Summer Ball at Lune Brew in Galgate on Monday 15th June, if you’re in Lonsdale, keep an eye out for tickets to this! 
• Graduate College is invited to formally partake in County’s Extrav, however postgrads have the benefit of choice – we recommend you walk round all the colleges and see what’s on offer over the weekend that takes your fancy! 

 

And finally, what’s this Closing Party all about? I’m glad you asked, to wrap up the weekend festival we’re not going out with a whimper, we’re ending in style! With County JCR at the helm, we’re putting on a proper gig – bands, lights, bar, the works! You won’t want to miss it, and tickets will be limited so keep an eye out for the ticket drop!