Margate Carnival may not have gone ahead this year but that hasn’t stopped organisers putting on quite the show for families.
A special day was held today (August 1) with stalls, entertainment and a community carnival procession in place of the annual event.
Organisers said with only a short period between the lifting of government Covid restrictions and the town’s carnival, it wasn’t safe or practical to run this year’s parade as normal.
Instead, a free family fun day was put on by the team behind the 120-year-old Margate Carnival on the field at Drapers Mills Primary.
A Doorstep Carnival also took place around Dane Valley bringing characters including swans, bees, and butterflies to residential streets, so families could watch from their front step.
There was also a stage for local musicians, dance schools and theatre groups to showcase their work.
This included Treble Performing Arts, Stage Door Arts Academy, JoJo’s School of Dance & Performing Arts, Silver Slipper and Off The Hook Productions.
Community groups, social enterprises and independent businesses had stalls and food was provided by Our Kitchen.
To end the event, Great British Carnival – which ran carnival making workshops all afternoon – ran a procession around the site.
Margate Carnival, which attracts crowds in excess of 25,000 people, would normally see the town brought to a standstill as the procession of 70 local clubs, groups, and small businesses travel from Palm Bay to Westbrook.