THOUSANDS of people lined the streets to welcome back the popular Melksham Carnival, on Saturday 25th June. No carnivals could be held for the past two years due to Covid, and the town was ready to show its support for a welcome return.
“The crowd was something else!” said chair of Melksham Carnival, Becky Lee. “I’ve been doing the carnival for six years now and that was the biggest crowd I have ever seen! Clearly there was an appetite in the town for carnival to come back. It was great to see so many smiley faces in the crowd.”
Along the procession route, residents young and old enjoyed performances from local dance groups, a marching band, a stilt walker, and a procession of giant tractors. Local business Meads of Melksham paraded their collection of classic and modern cars; and Proud Melksham brought Pride to the festivities with the group – representing the town’s LGBT community – making their carnival debut.
The Melksham Lions brought Father Christmas and his elves to the party – who took time out from their summer holiday to check in on how naughty or nice Melksham’s youngsters have been.
The Melksham Carnival Royalty happily waved to the crowds in their full royal regalia.
Becky said, “Overall it was pretty successful. We may not have had the number of entries we were hoping for, but the procession was of a high standard this year. The tractors went down really well; Meads of Melksham entertained the crowds; the dancing groups were fantastic; and Nortree were fabulous with their support of the carnival royalty, providing them with transport around the route.
“Thank you to everyone who took part, to all the volunteers, and a big thank you to the community for their incredible support on the day.”
Melksham’s mayor, cllr Simon Crundell, told Melksham News, “It was fantastic to see Melksham once again come together. The carnival was brilliant and so well attended. Huge thanks to everyone who organised and participated in the day’s celebrations.”
The committee is still counting money collected along the procession route to support the carnival, but they estimate that it will be in the hundreds.
And whilst the confetti has settled on this year’s procession, planning for next year’s event is already under way!
Becky said, “We’ve already got a few additional people that have said they would like to put in floats for next year – so planning for next year will begin imminently! Which means fundraising for the procession will start soon too – so if there are any local businesses that would like to sponsor us, please get in touch, or if any residents would like to donate, please visit our GoFundMe page.”
To find out more about Melksham Carnival, visit their Facebook page: www.facebook.com/MelkshamCarnival; or to donate, visit: www.gofundme.com/f/support-melksham-carnival
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