Shrewsbury’s festive season gets underway with Christmas Cracker event
Shrewsbury’s festive season got underway last night as the town’s Christmas Cracker event returned.
A lantern parade with over 200 people taking part was one of the highlights of the event winding its way through the town before leading into the Square for the official countdown at 6.30pm.
Stars from Theatre Severn’s pantomime, Dick Whittington, and the Mayor of Shrewsbury, Councillor Miles Kenny then switched on the lights.
Following the big switch-on members of the public gathered for the annual Tree of Light launch in the Darwin Shopping Centre.
The evening also saw the return of the Darwin Centre’s giant reindeer which had its very own switch-on to coincide with the Square countdown.
For the first time, Shrewsbury’s Eat Street was also part of the festivities, held at St Alkmund’ Square.
Shrewsbury's shops and the town’s Market Hall stayed open until 9pm.
Shrewsbury BID Manager Kirsten Henly said: “Shrewsbury’s businesses pulled out all the stops for last night’s event, which really was the biggest in terms of seasonal entertainment and activity. The atmosphere was amazing as crowds gathered across the different town centre venues. Last night marks the start of Shrewsbury’s most varied Christmas programme to date with a variety of one-off events planned over the coming weeks.
Helen Ball, Town Clerk said: “Shrewsbury’s Christmas Cracker event was a huge success, our staff estimated around 3,500 people turned out to see the lights switched on in the Square and the audio relay on Pride Hill and at St Alkmund’s, provided by Microvideo, meant people could enjoy the countdown at different points across town. The varied programme, which included music performances, Eat Street, the lantern parade and, of course, Santa’s sleigh kept people in town longer and spread over a wider area than ever before. A fantastic start to Shrewsbury’s festive season.”
The switch-on was organised by Shrewsbury Town Council, in partnership with Shrewsbury Shopping Centres, Shropshire Council and Shrewsbury BID, which sponsored the event.
The lantern Parade gets to walk in, and be art of the Lights Switch On in this wonderful town. The children were...
Posted by Steven Oliver Photography on Wednesday, 18 November 2015
