The final Terrace party of the season played out last weekend. With the canal-side sound system now packed away for winter, here's a look back at the summer that just happened.

It got big

Every year the Crate Terrace grows, and this summer has been huge. Thursday/Friday pop-ups and bank holiday Sundays became a more frequent feature alongside our string of Saturday open-air parties.

This year we’ve balanced bigger acts like Alex Kassian, Bella Claxton, ATRIP, and Gaskin with brilliant promoters including BeeYou, Step Inside and Heels & Souls, who raised funds for their chosen charities. Minority-led collectives have had a place at the decks too, with sets from XOXA, Soft Domination and Selextorhood; as have local and emerging parties like Al Fresco, Dark Matter and Canal Works. 

We rolled out our first-ever Terrace residency, with breakthewire; who hosted three different parties across the summer, and we welcomed the return of festivals; Queens Yard Summer Party and Multi-Multi (we’d confidently argue that Crate is the place to be for the daytime part of these multi-venue festivals).

And then there was Coffee Club Records who returned for one last time. They threw one of the very first Terrace parties four years ago, and came back a fortnight ago to close out their own chapter. Four years is a long time in promoter years and we're glad we got to close it out with them.

Beyond the decks

Not every Terrace highlight this year had a DJ booth. Back in the spring, the whole venue was taken over for the UK launch of Ole Henriksen's new lip gloss line. And in April, Countertalk brought their Cheesecake-Off to Crate - pitting seven of London's best against each other to see who could bake the best signature cheesecake (shout out to Big Mamma Group, Cakes & Bubbles, Honey & Co, Barrafina, Bad Boy Pizza, Donostia and Elliot's who baked so much cheesecake for the event that our staff got a taste as well). 

We’ve celebrated some pretty special moments this year too. Long-standing Crate customer Luke celebrated his wedding with us; always a very special one to host. Creative writing group Inklings marked their first birthday on the Terrace, and we also hosted the full staff party for Pho, showing how our canal-side beer garden can flex into pretty much anything, if the occasion calls for it.

Thank you

It's been a big season and the magic of Hackney Wick has been shining. We are proud of what we’ve created, but really we’re nothing without the people that make it happen. 

So — to the thousands of guests who joined us for a boogie by the canal this year: thank you.

To the talented promoters, brilliant artists and fun brands we've worked with: thank you.

And to Lily, our events manager, and the whole bar team, without whom none of this would happen: thank you.

And that's a wrap

One season may have ended, but another is on its way. With Christmas approaching, keep an eye out for pop-ups and other events to get you through the winter.