Hundreds of families welcomed in the festive season at an annual event which saw a dazzling display of lanterns light up Leamington town centre.
Leamington’s 14th annual Lantern Parade saw residents and visitors parade homemade paper lanterns through the town for this year’s sparkling spectacular.
Participants created hundreds of lanterns for this much-loved event based on dragons, mythical creatures, unicorns, fish and Peppa Pig, as well as traditional snowmen and Christmas trees, and lanterns inspired by their favourite animals.
The evening featured a host of entertainment including stilt walkers who led the parade, and music from David Harrop, the Methodist Choir, and Royal Spa Brass and culminated at the Town Hall with an appearance from Santa and carol singing.
The Lantern Parade, organised by BID Leamington, is inspired by ‘The Lights of Leamington’ event, which lit up Jephson Gardens from 1951 to 1961.
Alison Shaw, BID Leamington project manager, said: “We would like to thank everyone who joined us for this year’s Lantern Parade to welcome in the festive season.
“It’s always an incredibly popular event which forms part of people’s Christmas traditions which is wonderful.
“We had some spectacular lanterns made for the occasion, with some truly creative designs which delighted participants and spectators.
“Also, we would like to thank our local businesses who support this event and all our wonderful volunteers who work tirelessly year-on-year to make the event such a success.
“It was also a fantastic opportunity to get people into the town centre, and we would encourage everyone to continue to shop local this Christmas.”
BID Leamington still has a number of other festive events coming up including Festive Fun trails around town running from 01 – 22 December and Santa visits on 03 and 12 December Christmas Angels will add some sparkle to the town centre on Small Business Saturday 07 December.
For more information, visit www.royal-leamington-spa.co.uk
