There are, it seems, festivals for everything these days. From seafood to sandwiches, steam engines to sunbathers. No subject area shall be left unfestive, no corner of the nation left unmarqueed, and no member of the public denied enforced jollity in a tent at an inflated price. So, why not a festival on pediments and pilasters?

On Friday, the London Festival of Architecture joins the fray once again. There is, however, one problem. Buildings don’t do festive very well. Despite the architectural pyrotechnics of Zaha Hadid or Frank Gehry, most buildings just sit there, grouchily, like Gordon Brown, immovable in gruff stone, stubbornly refusing to perform to the crowd.

So a heavy burden falls to the LFA. It is true that more of us seem to go gawping at modern architecture than ever before, and events such as September’s Open House are rammed every year. But, you know, we have got 3,478 festivals (give or take) to get through before then and, frankly, the contest between watching Janet Street-Porter wittering on about buildings over a full English (tickets still available, July 3), and sitting with a cool beer in a sunny or indeed rainy park with your friends listening to a Marillion tribute band is a tough call.

The LFA appears to be feeling the pressure. Instead of celebrating what architecture actually is – a fairly serious subject in no way related to pop music – it seems intent on celebrating what it isn’t, jollying it up with celebrities and exclamation marks. Since its launch in 2004 by Peter Murray, the architectural Svengali, the festival has relentlessly expanded so that the “buzz”, says the blurb, of more than 600 events now sprawls across five “hubs” over a whole month.

There are highlights, and seemingly bottomless enthusiasm, but with a limited budget this means that plenty of events such as It’s an Architectural Knockout! – “a light-hearted outdoor event featuring architects and other professionals competing in a series of fun ‘London Architecture’ obstacle races!” (July 20) – have little curatorial gravitas, especially compared with rival biennales in Rotterdam and Venice.

But we need to support it, if only to register that we care about British architecture. On the right, I’ve extracted the best of the LFA’s programme, so that you can show your support without resorting to running a three-legged race clad as St Paul’s Cathedral. And it will actually be quite fun.

The London Festival of Architecture 2008, June 20-July 20 2008 (www.lfa2008.org)

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