The route for Margate carnival was packed today as onlookers cheered the procession of floats and costumed characters taking part.
Led by Sangers Stage Show, which has made the 200-mile pilgrimage from Stonehenge to join the parade, it also included carnival courts, dance schools, youth clubs and businesses and Broadstairs singer Mandy Winters performing as Diana Dors ahead of her Winter Gardens show.
The parade set off from Palm Bay Avenue and wound its way along the seafront, passing Bugsy Bowling, The Lido, The Winter Gardens and onto Fort Hill, pastMargate Police Station and through The Piazza and Soul Festival, towards the train station and onto the Royal Esplanade, Westbrook.
An after-carnival party is being held at Dreamland from 7pm for 7.30pm start. Entry is free.
Sanger’s Stage Show will set up and treat party-goers live music and performances.
The stage show is led by Dave Sanger, whose ancestor is Lord George Sanger – circus proprietor and founder of the famous Hall By The Sea on the Dreamland site in the 1870s. It is the last horse-drawn stage show in the country.
He is joined by partner Amanda Chapman, baby Lord Sanger and a procession of travelling actors, musicians and performers, who have been putting on pop-up performances across the country, with traditional wagons and entertainers dressed in full Victorian costume.
The Sanger procession also includes the incredible Pyratrix Circus.
Photos by Thanet from my perspective, Adam Dark, Maria Silva, Sue Fewings, Phil Bay and Frank Leppard