Saturday, Sunday, 11-12 September, all day

Locations: from Westminster Bridge to Tower Bridge and beyond (Southbank)

The Mayor's Thames Festival takes place annually in mid-September and the Hungarian Cultural Centre will be there also. Come and meet the “Busos” and a ceramic artist to experience Hungarian traditions. For one week around men dress up as “Busos” in the village of Mohacs, in Southern Hungary every year, they shed their everyday identities to become a fertility symbol that chases away the gloom of winter and welcomes the advent of spring. A "Buso" is a rather scary-looking masked creature, with sheepskin coat and canvas leggings but surely they will be friendly enough to pose for pictures with Londoners. A skilled ceramic artist will be showing you how the world famous Zsolnay porcelain is painted by hand in Pécs the European Capital of Culture in 2010. Come and find our tent at the river Thames!

Other activities take place over the weekend on the River Thames, the riverside walkways, roads, bridges, docks and public open spaces from Westminster Bridge to Tower Bridge and beyond. The festival is a stunning, free celebration of London and its river and it has become a key highlight in the city's cultural life. Its river and water-focused activities aim to inspire and excite and its extensive education programme involving some 300 schools hopes to increase interest in and appreciation of the river and its environment.

Many Thames Festival activities are based on public participation. The festival commissions new work, and transforms unusual spaces on and around the River Thames with a mixture of street arts, performance, carnival, pyrotechnics, illuminations, art installations, exhibitions, river events, massed choirs, circus, music and dance, food and feasting. The finale is a magical illuminated Night Procession that winds along the north and south banks of the Thames, followed by a fireworks display fired from the centre of the river itself.