Trevithick Day returns to Camborne on Saturday 24 April 2027. Organisers Camborne Trevithick Day CIC have already set the date while running fundraising events over the summer, and Cornwall’s Rewind Radio reported it in July as one to mark in the diary.
The 2026 edition filled Camborne town centre with working steam engines, the Puffing Devil replica, live music, dancing, stalls, street food, a fair, vintage vehicles and model-engine displays. It is Cornwall’s largest free-to-enter community event, drawing tens of thousands of visitors into the town in a single day.
The day marks Richard Trevithick, born in 1771 into Cornwall’s mining country and the engineer who made high-pressure steam work. In 1801 he built a full-size steam road locomotive on a site near what is now Fore Street in Camborne, with his cousin Andrew Vivian steering; the run up the hill gave Cornwall the folk song “Camborne Hill”. The Puffing Devil that leads the engine parade is a working replica built by the Trevithick Society, first shown on Trevithick Day in 2001. The parade passes the Trevithick statue outside the Passmore Edwards building, which is why the engines gather in the town centre rather than at a showground.
Visitor information
Date: Saturday 24 April 2027.
Venue: Streets and spaces across Camborne town centre, with roads closed for the day.
Admission: Free. Trevithick Day has no entry charge; some stalls, the funfair and food vendors charge separately.
Programme: Four music stages, steam and vintage-vehicle parades, a funfair, indoor exhibitions and park-and-ride vintage buses ran in 2026. The 2027 running order will follow closer to the date on the organiser’s events page.
Where to stay
See Camborne visitor information and browse places to stay near Camborne.
