The festive season started with a bang yesterday at Shrewsbury’s Christmas Cracker event.
Hundreds of people turned out to help celebrate the launch of the town’s new Christmas lights display and the start of late night shopping.
Highlights of the evening included Shrewsbury’s first Christmas lantern parade which saw around 100 people illuminate the town’s streets with colourful handmade lights and a special ‘flash mob’ choir performance.
About 80 singers surprised crowds in the Darwin Centre at 6pm when they spontaneously burst into song on all three levels of the centre, including on the escalators, to perform Mozart’s Friends, Forget The Cares That Bore Us.
Members of theyerwhatyerwhat cast ayeayefrom Theatre Severn’s panto, Aladdin, also delighted crowds on Pride Hill, while the sounds of brass bands and choirs filled the Square and shopping centres.
Maria Jones, who attended the event with her daughter Hannah, said: ””The Christmas Cracker event was excellent. The lantern workshop was great, Hannah had so much fun making her lantern and joining in the magical lantern parade. What a great start to the festive season!””
Rebecca Oliver, one of the event organisers said: “Shrewsbury’s Christmas Cracker certainly seemed to go with a bang yesterday, everyone seemed to be really enjoying themselves and getting into the festive spirit. There was a real community atmosphere with performances from local bands, choirs and dance groups and families coming together for the parade of lanterns.
“We would like to say a huge thank you to everyone involved including Shrewsbury Folk Festival who provided the LED lights for the lantern parade, the Cartoon Festival for lending us Barry the Shrew for the evening, the shopping centres for providing workshop and performance space and of course our sponsors, Darwin Matthews Solicitors.”
To see a selection of photos from the event log onto www.facebook.com/shrewsburytowncouncil