Preston has the climate of north-west England — mild, damp, and changeable. May to September are the best months to visit, with the Avenham Park parades and Pace Egg rolling at Easter as fixed-date events worth catching. The Preston Caribbean Carnival in late August is the biggest single street event of the year.
The signature event is the Preston Guild, held every twenty years since 1179 — a three-week civic festival of parades, concerts, and public events that brings the city to a halt. The next one is in 2032; the previous, in 2012, drew over a million visitors. "Once every Preston Guild" is still a Lancashire expression for something exceptionally rare.