Preparations are well under way for Fleetwood Festival of Transport this Sunday. Now in its 32nd year, this year’s promises to be the best yet.
The annual festival is expected to attract tens of thousands of people, making it the busiest day of the year for the town. Heritage transport attractions, plus arts and creative activities for families and a packed programme of performances, are set to keep crowds entertained throughout the day with the added bonus of the return of the SpareParts Festival once again too.
The official opening of the day will take place at 11am with the transport and civic parade. This will feature a host of vehicles and local people performing, starting at Fisherman’s Walk and heading to the North Euston Hotel.
Throughout the festival there will be a host of activities on offer from the SpareParts programme – in ‘The Junkyard’ in Memorial Park and a special ‘Off The Rails’ youth zone in Euston Gardens. In addition to this there will be many roving performances through Lord Street and beyond. Highlights of the arts programme this year include The Urban Playground Team with their performance dance piece STEAM, which sees them tell the story of the locomotive through history, plus the Marie Celestial spaceship with aerial performance and storytelling, both situated in the Memorial Park.
Children and young people will also be invited to take part in a special Space Quest to achieve their Arts Award Discover certificate, collecting art from around the festival to save aliens from the future from a world without art. Children wishing to take part in this can get their Space Quest map from the Soundavan in Memorial Park.
The much anticipated ‘Great Spare Parts Parade’ will begin at 3pm from Bold Street and North Albert Street, featuring many of the artists who have performed during the day. This will include the giant pedal powered contraptions of Festival Road, designed to enliven the streets of Fleetwood with an explosion of creativity and colour.
Members of the public who own a mobility scooter are invited to take part in the parade by joining a creative workshop to decorate their scooter, and joining in the celebration with their own transport inspired creations. To do this, people should head to the corner of Bold Street and North Albert Street at 2.45pm where they will be provided with art and craft materials to transform their wheels into a wondrous work of transport creation.
New for 2017, in Warrenhurst Road, free steam rides will be on offer to budding rail enthusiasts on a small gauge railway which has been brought along for the day. Meanwhile at Pharos Lighthouse a selection of heritage trams will be on display. there will also be a wide range of vehicles, both old and new, all along Lord Street as the whole of Fleetwood goes transport crazy for the day.
The festival will culminate with a musical finale in Memorial Park with the Junkyard CRASH and the Little Scrappers who will perform a transport inspired set of live music and performance to wow the crowds and bring the day to a close.
Free parking is available on the day at ABP on Dock Street and many activities are free of charge.
Fleetwood Festival of Transport and SpareParts Festival takes place from 10am on Sunday July 16 in Fleetwood town centre and Memorial Park. For more information or to download the programme for Tram Sunday visit www.fleetwoodfestivaloftransport.co.uk
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