Lantern Parade to light up Leamington again this year
Hundreds of families are preparing to welcome in the festive season at an annual event which will see a dazzling display of lanterns light up Leamington town centre.
Leamington’s 15th annual Lantern Parade, taking place on Sunday (December 7), invites residents and visitors to parade homemade paper lanterns through the town for this year’s sparkling
spectacular, kindly sponsored by David Wilson Homes.
Participants have been busy creating hundreds of lanterns for this much-loved event, inspired by their favourite characters including dragons, unicorns, Peppa Pig, plus traditional snowmen and reindeer, to name but a few.
The evening kicks off at the Bandstand in the Pump Room Gardens at 4.15pm with a host of entertainment, including stilt walkers who will lead the parade, and music from David Harrop.
The event will then end at the steps of the Town Hall, where David will lead the community in carol singing kindly supported by Methodist Choir and Royal Spa Brass— and there may even be a quick appearance from Santa, if he is not too busy!
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, says: “We would like to invite everyone to join us for this year’s Lantern Parade to welcome in the festive season.
“It is always an incredibly popular event which forms part of people’s Christmas traditions, which is wonderful.
“We are looking forward to seeing some spectacular lanterns created for the occasion, with truly creative designs that will delight participants and
spectators.
“We would also 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 is also a fantastic opportunity to bring people into the town centre, and we encourage everyone to continue to shop local this Christmas.”
BID Leamington also has a number of other festive events coming up, including Festive Fun Trails around town running from December 1 to 24 and Christmas Angels adding some sparkle to the town centre on Small Business Saturday (December 6).
Santa will visit the Royal Priors shopping centre on December 13 and 14 hosted by Royal Leamington Spa Rotary Club.
For more information, visit www.royal-leamington-spa.co.uk