Harborough's summer carnival has been called off

"We won’t be going ahead this year and we will be redoubling our efforts to make sure we bounce back with a brilliant carnival better than ever in June 2022”
This summer’s carnival in Market Harborough has been called off.This summer’s carnival in Market Harborough has been called off.
This summer’s carnival in Market Harborough has been called off.

This summer’s carnival in Market Harborough has been called off.

The town’s action-packed traditional headline show on the second Saturday in June is being cancelled amid serious ongoing uncertainty over the Covid-19 pandemic.

Paul Milligan, chair of the carnival’s committee, told the Harborough Mail today: “It’s a real shame.

“None of us wanted to have to do this – especially after we were forced to scrap it last summer as well.

“But we have no choice – it’s as simple as that.”

Speaking after the committee moved to act at a meeting yesterday, he added: “Our first priority and consideration has got to be public safety.

“And we simply cannot guarantee that.

“There is still so much uncertainty and doubt over how long the current lockdown restrictions are going to last.

“And having to keep your social distance obviously makes it very difficult for a big spread-out event like our carnival to go ahead,” insisted Paul.

“We’ve also got to think of our schools.

“When are they going to go back – and would they have enough time to make floats or what ever for the big day?

“It just doesn’t make sense to try to force this to go on when it doesn’t really add up.

“We are already well into February.

“Before you know it we’ll be into the spring and the carnival would be just weeks down the line.

“So we have had to act decisively and act early to let everyone know what we are doing.

“We are not staging a show which could turn out to be a pale imitation of the carnivals we’ve been proud to stage in Market Harborough over many years,” said Paul.

“We are not settling for putting on a second or third-class spectacular – that would be terrible and totally unacceptable.

“So we won’t be going ahead this year and we will be redoubling our efforts to make sure we bounce back with a brilliant carnival better than ever in June 2022.”

He said they will be staging a special virtual 10k carnival run on the scheduled date in June.

“We are not going to fire up attractions online this year as we did last year because people have had enough of staring at screens,” said Paul.

“I cannot say too much more about the run at this point because we are still very much working on it.

“But it’s going to be exciting – watch this space!

“We are also appealing for enthusiastic volunteers to come forward to help us make next year’s carnival bigger and better and brighter than ever.”

If you would like to help Paul and his committee stage next year’s thrill-a-minute extravaganza after a three-year gap you can email him at: [email protected]

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