Marsh Farm has confirmed Saturday 7 November, one night only. Admirals Park and the racecourse have published nothing for 2026 and both pages still show last year.

Bonfire night 2026 falls on Thursday 5 November. Chelmsford’s displays have always landed on the weekend either side of it, and as at 5 September only one of them has told anybody which weekend that is.

Marsh Farm at South Woodham Ferrers has confirmed Saturday 7 November and is selling tickets. Chelmsford Round Table, which runs the only display inside the city, has published nothing: its fireworks page still leads with last year’s date and the words “This event is SOLD OUT”. Chelmsford City Racecourse is in the same position, and its own 2026 events list has no fireworks night on it at all.

Where each display stands

Chelmsford district fireworks displays, status as at 5 September 2026
Display2026 dateStatus
Marsh Farm, South Woodham FerrersSat 7 NovemberConfirmed, tickets on sale, one night only
Chelmsford Round Table, Admiral's ParkNot publishedOwn page still shows 8 Nov 2025, sold out
Chelmsford City RacecourseNot publishedOwn page still shows 2 Nov 2025; no fireworks in its 2026 events list
Frasers, BattlesbridgeNot published2025 ticket page now 404s; nothing in its events calendar

Marsh Farm, Saturday 7 November: confirmed

The one display in the district anybody can book today is at Marsh Farm at South Woodham Ferrers. Its own page says the Family Fireworks “return for one night only on Saturday 7th November”, and the page was published on 1 September and last edited on 3 September, so it is current rather than left over.

Three things are worth knowing before you book.

  • It is a low bang display, “designed with families in mind”. The farm’s own wording is that it uses quieter fireworks but “some bangs may still occur”, and it tells noise-sensitive visitors to bring ear defenders anyway.
  • The ticket is a whole day, not an evening. Entry is from 2pm and includes the animals, the adventure play, the soft play and the dinosaur trail. The fireworks start at approximately 6:30pm and the site stays open until 8pm for the funfair and food.
  • It is one night in 2026, not two. In 2025 the farm ran fireworks on both Saturday 1 and Sunday 2 November. This year there is a single night, so the capacity is halved.

On price, the £8 early-bird offer closed at midnight on 4 September, the day before this page was written. Marsh Farm’s page gives no standard advance price, only that tickets “increase” after the early bird and that on-the-door tickets cost £12 per person. Funfair rides are extra. The booking widget was down for maintenance when we checked, so if you cannot get through, that is why.

For comparison, the 2025 event was £14.50 per person for non-members and £5 for toddlers, according to Chelmsford City Council’s own round-up of that year’s displays.

Chelmsford Round Table, Admiral’s Park: nothing published

This is the one most people mean when they search for Chelmsford fireworks, and it is the one with no answer yet.

The Round Table’s own fireworks page still reads “Back for its 50th Year”, “8th Nov 2025” and “This event is SOLD OUT. No tickets on the gate.” Its events page returns a 404. Its shop lists Christmas trees, a pin badge and a donation form, and no fireworks ticket. The box office it used last year, a Ticket Tailor page at buytickets.at, blocks automated checks, so we cannot confirm from here whether a 2026 event has quietly been loaded into it.

What does not change year to year, from the club’s own page:

  • The venue is Admiral’s Park, Rainsford Road, a short walk from the city centre, the bus station and Chelmsford railway station.
  • Gates have opened at 5pm with the display at 7:30pm after safety checks.
  • There is no parking on site or in nearby roads, and the organisers close Rainsford Road at certain times using their own traffic management team.
  • Sparklers are not permitted inside the park.
  • Advance tickets are cheaper than the gate, and in 2025 the event sold out before the night, so the gate option vanished entirely.

In 2025 the club charged £12 adult and £6 child in advance, £13 and £7 on the day, under-threes free, per the council’s round-up. It describes itself as the only fireworks display operating in the city of Chelmsford, and says the money raised goes to local causes: it lists £11,000 of equipment bought for Essex Search and Rescue’s canoe team out of one year’s takings.

On the date, the club has run a Saturday every year we can trace: 6 November in 2021, 4 November in 2023, 8 November in 2025. The Saturdays around bonfire night in 2026 are 31 October and 7 November. That is a pattern, not an announcement, and we are not going to print a date the organisers have not given. Note also that 8 November 2026 is a Sunday, so any listing site repeating “8 November” out of habit is wrong.

Chelmsford City Racecourse: not in its own 2026 diary

The racecourse’s fireworks page is still headed “Sunday 2nd November 2025”. More telling, its non-raceday events list for 2026 currently shows four things, and none of them is a fireworks night: Dance Through The Decades on Saturday 17 October, and Illuminate Christmas parties on 4, 11 and 12 December. Its what’s-on page returns a 404.

So the Fireworks Spectacular is neither confirmed nor formally cancelled. If it returns, the 2025 shape was: CM3 1QP, gates 4pm, last entry 7pm, a 20-minute display set to music at 7:30pm, venue closed 8:30pm, funfair and street food, advance tickets only with no sales on the door, £17.50 adult and £10 child, VIP £25 and £15 with a covered marquee and free parking, under-threes free but still needing a ticket.

Frasers, Battlesbridge

Frasers at 5 Maltings Road, Battlesbridge, is inside Chelmsford district (Rettendon parish, though the postcode is an SS11 one). It opened the 2025 season on Saturday 1 November with a Guy Fawkes-making session at 5.15pm, the bonfire at 6.30pm and fireworks at 7.30pm.

The ticket page the council linked to now returns a 404, and Frasers’ own events calendar lists two things for the rest of 2026, a Halloween biscuit workshop on 29 October and a Christmas one on 24 December. There is no 2026 fireworks listing.

What the council asks

Chelmsford City Council does not run a display of its own. What it does run is a campaign called Rocket O’Clock, asking people setting off fireworks at home to do it at the same time each evening so that pets, wildlife and noise-sensitive neighbours get one predictable period rather than several nights of surprises. The council has repeated the ask in October 2023 and in earlier years, and its standing advice is to go to an organised display instead.

Getting there and home

The Admiral’s Park display is the one with a travel problem, and it is a deliberate one: the organisers close Rainsford Road and provide no parking, on the basis that most of the crowd can walk in from the station or the city centre car parks. If you must drive, park in town and walk out. Our parking in Chelmsford page has the current tariffs and which car parks are free in the evening.

Marsh Farm and the racecourse are both car journeys with a single exit road apiece, so allow for a slow leave. Check our roadworks and travel page before you set off, because the A12 and A414 both have live schemes this autumn.

What we will update, and when

This page is checked through the season. The three things still outstanding:

  • Chelmsford Round Table’s 2026 date and ticket link. In 2025 the display was announced and on sale well before October. Expected September or early October.
  • Chelmsford City Racecourse. Either a Fireworks Spectacular appears in its 2026 events list, or the event has been dropped for the year. Expected September.
  • The council’s annual round-up of public displays. It published one on 22 October 2025 and 10 October 2024, so expect the 2026 version in the second half of October.

Sources