Building the Digital Home for Ramsbottom Come Together Festival | Drystone IT

A community festival across 10 venues needed a website that could handle 100+ events, live schedule updates, and thousands of mobile visitors. Here's how we built it.

When the organisers of Ramsbottom Come Together Festival got in touch about a website for 2026, we jumped at it. A free, three-day arts and culture festival across 10 venues in the heart of Ramsbottom, with over 100 acts and 20 workshops? That's not just a web project – that's something you want to be part of.

Drystone IT is a Rossendale-based web and IT partner working with local organisations to build fast, reliable digital platforms.

Funded by the UK Government through Local Growth & Place Flexible Grants, with proceeds going towards the restoration of the Co-op Hall, this is exactly the kind of work we got into this business for. Real people, real impact, and technology that actually makes a difference to a town we know.

The Challenge

This isn't a single-venue event. It's a sprawling festival where things happen simultaneously across pubs, theatres, and community halls. The website needed to handle that complexity while staying simple for people browsing on their phones, and for non-technical organisers running things behind the scenes.

Showcase over 100 events across 10 venues, many running at the same time

Transition from a pre-festival marketing site to a live "What's On Now" hub during the weekend

Give organisers full control over the schedule so they could ditch paper programmes and handwritten amendments

Let photographers upload and share photos on the go during the festival

Our Approach

Rather than a static brochure site, we built a platform that works in two phases, shifting from a marketing tool into a live festival companion when the weekend kicks off.

Phase 1: Before the Festival

In the lead-up, the site did the heavy lifting on marketing and volunteer recruitment. A countdown timer built anticipation, the full event schedule let people plan their weekend, and a "Get Involved" page brought in volunteers and local partners. A configurable hero slideshow gave the organisers control over the visual tone.

Phase 2: Festival Weekend

Back to all case studies or contact us.

Case studies

Services

Web applications — Bespoke applications built on a modern, type-safe stack — from MVPs to mission-critical platforms.
AI integration — Practical use of LLMs, RAG and agents inside your product or operations. We pick what pays back.
Internal tools — Replace spreadsheets and clipboards with software your team will actually want to use.
Customer portals — Self-service portals where clients track work, access documents and pay invoices in one place.
API & systems integration — Tie disparate systems together. Webhooks, queues, ETL, and well-documented internal APIs.
E-commerce — Fast, conversion-focused stores — Shopify Hydrogen, headless Stripe, or fully bespoke.
Marketing websites — Brand-led, performance-led websites that earn their keep. Built on modern stacks, headless CMS optional.
Discovery & strategy — Short, sharp engagements to scope work, de-risk decisions and ship the right thing first.
Maintenance & care — Ongoing development, monitoring and quiet improvement — for the long-term life of your product.

Contact

Phone: 07434 859543. Email: contact@drystoneit.co.uk. Hours: Mon – Sun · 8am – 8pm.

Based in Rossendale, Lancashire. Registered office: Millstone, Tong Lane, Bacup, OL13 9XB.