NEW attractions helped to boost the success of this year’s Keynsham Winter Festival.
Crowds flocked to the town centre to celebrate the official start to the holiday season, as the High Street, Market Walk and Temple Street buzzed with festive cheer.
New features this year included Father Christmas’s grotto, sponsored by MG Estate agents. South West Lions Club once again pulled a favour from the man himself, ensuring Santa was ready to hear everyone’s Christmas wishes.
The grotto was a big hit with young and old alike, and it will become a regular feature in years to come.
Keynsham Leisure Centre hosted several popular stalls and will hopefully do so in future.
Other new attractions included princesses from Frozen, a climbing wall (provided by Mendip Activity Centre) and a snow fun zone in the MakeSpace venue offer the leisure centre.
The brightly lit VeeDubs vans created a dazzling display, and the fire truck provided by Avon & Somerset Fire Brigade allowed many children to live out their fire-fighting dreams.
“The feedback we’ve had so far is that the new attractions added something special to this year’s winter festival,” said Katherine Sears, deputy town clerk at Keynsham Town Council and lead organiser of the festival.
“People loved all the free meet-and-greets, snow fun zone and the re-introduction of the climbing wall. We also had more of our shops staying open late and a record number of market stalls allowing people to get ahead on their Christmas shopping. We’re thrilled with how it all went.”
Councillor Dave Biddleston, chairman of the town council’s events, arts, tourism and heritage committee, said: “We are so grateful to everyone who made this year’s winter festival a success.
“The winter festival committee and our dedicated officers worked tirelessly to put on a fantastic event that catered to everyone’s needs. We hope that everyone had as much fun as we did.”
The festival committee said it was grateful to all businesses and traders that contributed to the event’s success, with special thanks to official sponsors Argyll Design, Davies & Way, Eveleighs Estate Agents, IJ McGill, MG Estate Agents, Mokka, Olivia’s Boutique, Redfern Osteopaths, Smart Computers, and W&W Memorials.
Photos by Mike May