Organisers of the Wells Carnival have hailed this year's event as the best ever after a colourful procession through the seaside town yesterday.
The carnival parade provided the traditional climax to the week-long summer celebration, whose myriad of events brought estimated attendances totalling 25,000 people.
A huge crowd lined the route for the colourful procession – a festival of flag-waving, stilt-walking and charity bucket-shaking which included costumed cavemen, comic-book characters, astronauts, pirates and jungle animals.
Carnival committee chairman Patrick Weston said: 'I am just so pleased and very proud of Wells in allowing us to put on the best carnival in the country – not just the best in Norfolk, or the best in East Anglia.
'We're just very pleased to see all these smiling faces. The Quay was 10-deep with people for the parade. It is fantastic.'
The procession was led by the deafening roar of Harley Davidson motorcycles, ridden by members of the Iceni Chapter of Norfolk, followed by the more soothing sounds of the Smokehouse Blue marching jazz band.
The overall winner of the carnival float and fancy dress competitions was a Willy Wonka-themed float featuring characters from the Roald Dahl story. It was awarded the inaugural Brian Ayton Trophy – a new prize introduced in memory of a dedicated carnival supporter who died last year.
Shirley Golding, vice chairman of the carnival committee, said: 'I think this is the best carnival we've ever had. To be honest, after having such a good carnival like this you wonder how you are going to beat it next year, but we always seem to achieve it.'
For full story and more pictures, see Monday's EDP.
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